Battlefield: Wars of the Systems Alliance
by GreaterGoodIreland
Summary: Humanity is no stranger to war. For thousands of years, human fought human, and once we reached for the stars, it was no different. Attacked by aliens, threatened from within by separatists, menaced by an ancient enemy, we fought and triumphed. A documentary following the conflicts of humanity after discovery of the mass effect. ME with the background of Battlefield 2142, BF2183 AU
1. MINDOIR: Prelude to Battle

_AUTHOR'S FOREWORD: _

_Hello ladies and gents, welcome to Battlefield: Wars of the Systems Alliance._

_This is an accompanying story to Battlefield 2183 and its sequels. It will explore the major conflicts between humanity and other species, starting with the Skyllian Verge Conflict and hopefully working through the Eden Prime War, the Terminus Conflict and the Reaper War at the least. It will be in a documentary style, based on the Battlefield TV series that ran on BBC and PBS, which some military history junkies will be aware of. _

_You don't need to read the parent story to enjoy this, though if you unfamiliar with the Battlefield series of games, you may want to read the prologue and timeline of BF2183._

_This has been written as the nature of the conflicts in question have changed from the canon, mostly due to far greater numbers of human colonists leaving Earth (which is in somewhat of an ice age), and I thought exploring those differences would be fun to write. And hopefully to read as well._

_To the readers of the main story, fear not, writing has continued for that as well. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**THE VERGE CONFLICT:** **_Battle of Mindoir (2170)_**

At 0530 hour local time, October 5th 2170, the Batarian Hegemony struck its long-awaited first blow against the human Systems Alliance, in an operation named "Righteous Cause", attacking the agricultural colony of Mindoir. This was the moment that the batarians had been been preparing for five years, and what humanity had tried desperately to avoid. The campaign would see the batarians achieve one of the most complete of victories in the history of warfare. And yet in this utterly demoralising and crushing defeat of their enemies, the seed of the downfall of the Hegemony was planted.

The batarian forces and their pirates would kidnap more sentient beings than had ever before been captured in a single raid. Up-scaling their already proven intimidation tactics, the Hegemony hoped to scare the human race into abandoning colonisation of the Skyllian Verge entirely, and perhaps even to contain the Alliance within its own local cluster. Despite huge military success, they would find the opposite reaction would be the one they were to receive.

In 2170, it would seem like the entire Traverse was opening up for the batarians to take. They would humiliate the species that had held off the mighty turians, putting the very existence of humanity as an independent entity at stake with the worst defeat that any human force had suffered since First Contact. The batarian campaign would leave the Alliance battered, creating a military problem it could barely deal with and a political crisis of unprecedented fury. So complete would the batarian victory be, that humanity would openly respond with their most terrible weapons as the only option for continuation as a unified species.

* * *

PRELUDE TO THE BATTLE

In 2165, Humanity gained an embassy on the Citadel as an associate species of the Citadel Council, fully integrating its economy with the galactic market and gaining formal access to the highest levels of interspecies government for the first time. It was a hard fought achievement. Only seven years previously, humanity had been at war with the Turian Hierarchy, and the diplomatic wounds were very much still open. However, the turians were convinced to close the matter of the Relay 314 Conflict, called the First Contact War by humans. In particular, the asari were eager to integrate the new species. The salarians on the other hand were neutral, believing it too early for the human species to join but fearing the creation of a rogue state on the borders of Citadel space.

As old wounds were closed and the hatchet buried, another conflict was brewing as a result of the diplomatic settlement reached. With the Alliance's integration into the galactic market, its tiny colonies throughout the Skyllian Verge exploded in population and wealth. Trade boomed and the coffers filled, and humanity was increasingly optimistic in its attitude. All of this was achieved at the expense of the batarians, whom had been developing the Verge for decades before and were pushed aside by the vast wave of new colonists that arrived between 2165 and 2170. Alliance programmes to promote colonial life merely exacerbated the dispute, and the Hegemony saw humanity as dangerously expansionist. Its leadership determined to halt and reverse the trend, and decided that military force was the only solution.

Unable to act using their own fleets at first, the batarians began arming and outfitting privateers to attack Alliance colonies and ships as early as a month after humanity's admission to the Citadel. By use of such tactics, the Hegemony hoped to avoid provoking a response from the Council. These attacks started small, some succeeding and others failing, usually on the basis of how close the target colony or ship was to Alliance reinforcements. The Hegemony's intelligence services mapped the response of human fleets carefully, gathering as much information on Alliance Navy's behaviours as they possibly could. This information was so extensively gathered that the captains of individual Alliance ships often had files of their own, detailing habits and reactions. Simultaneously, the batarians sought every possible scrap of knowledge about the First Contact War. Great risks were taken and equally great sums of credits paid to get batarian hands on turian debriefing reports from Shan'xi and Relay 314.

The Alliance did not rest on its laurels either, however. Operations to find and destroy pirate bases were launched, and a number of successes scored against individual pirate groups. Most famous of these was the destruction of the batarian frigate _Tunerron,_ by the Alliance cruiser _Hyderabad_ in the Action of 14 July 2167. No matter how successful individual pirates were, the expansion of human colonies did not stop and the disunited pirate groups could not challenge the Alliance Navy. Pushed by cold climate on Earth and facilitated by a government that needed to increase its clout, almost three hundred million humans left for the new colonies between 2167 and 2170.

The batarians knew that they needed to change their strategy or lose the entire Verge to the Alliance. They would apply what they had learned over five years of testing their enemy's defences, and planned the escalation of hostilities with total confidence that they had the drop on humanity.


	2. MINDOIR: The Leaders

THE LEADERS:

**Anka Gasperi**_, Consul of the Systems Alliance_

On September 1st 2162, Anka Gasperi became Consul alongside her colleague, Ronan Forrest, in a spectacular victory in the first all-human election of the Alliance Parliament. Before her Alliance career, she had served as European Commissioner for Foreign Policy and Trade. Thanks to her success in helping to win the Alliance its embassy on the Citadel, and the vast wealth brought to humanity by its integration into galactic markets and society, she became a figure of legend. By 2170, she had won another crushing election victory and the achievements of her government made her entirely unassailable. Wealth per capita, colonisation subsidies, crime rates, education and literacy rates, all improved by drastic lengths under her leadership. All of these were attributed to her compassionate touch and eye for political gain, a mix of traits regarded as requiring a genius to balance.

Gasperi overshadowed Forrest politcally and personally, and as her co-consul, he was quite content to give her the lead on internal matters as well as strategic affairs. As leader of the Conservative Party, her often more diplomatic positions when it came to contact with other species were criticised from within her own political wing. However, the scale of her achievements insured her own immense popularity and protected her from much criticism. Her political moderation and longsighted perspective appeared to pay dividends, as even the political left acknowledged her, and were more than willing to cross the aisle in order to insure stable government under her leadership.

It is in this context that we must place Gasperi's conduct in the years leading up to the battle. As the batarians prepared to attack, the leader of humanity's diplomatic and military might was much more concerned with negotiations with the Citadel than the sabre-rattling of a rogue species. Though she was the "Consul of the Sword", the executive leader of humanity's armies and fleets, she always regarded the pen as mightier than the sword. Her understanding of military affairs was limited to a political one. Alice Dennison, who would later successfully challenge her successors for dominance of humanity's political right, said privately that the consul was perfectly happy to carry around a sword, but had no idea how to use one and refused to keep it as sharp as possible. This characterised the administration's military policy quite well, and it would doom the inhabitants of Mindoir.

Under Gasperi's administration, the Alliance military was expanded, but expansion barely kept up with the explosion of humanity's colonial interests. The original three fleets were expanded to six, and the Alliance Navy's ships were brought up to galactic standards in terms of engineering. The objective was twofold, to give humanity just enough military power to throw around so that it could not be bullied by the Citadel species, and to insure that rogue species could never conquer Alliance territories in time to prevent the intervention of Citadel peacekeeping fleets.

This strategy largely spawned from Gasperi's beliefs. For the consul, the military was for making a diplomatic show of force. Open warfare was to be avoided as expense and risk, as her moderate fiscal conservativism demanded restraint of both. With colonial developments dominating the Alliance's budget, military spending was always seen as something to be kept under strict control, as it never made a return on investment. While she never doubted that the batarians would eventually go to war to defend their interests, the consul thought that they would be unable do so without the Alliance noticing their mobilisation or without the intervention of the turians.

When batarian pirate aggression began, Gasperi unsuccessfully lobbied the Council and later the turians alone to intervene on humanity's behalf. Due to the batarians' use of privateers and mercenary groups, the Council refused to intervene. The stated reason for this was a lack of evidence of direct involvement by the batarian state itself, but the reality was different. Turian intervention in the Verge would more than likely have meant war with the Hegemony, and war was something the Council wished to avoid at almost any cost. Spectres were dispatched against the pirates, but as with all such groups, they cropped up like weeds. The Spectres returned to the Citadel after destroying a few ships claiming success, only for new groups to begin raiding soon afterwards.

Gasperi responded with firmer actions of her own. She began a full military review of all Alliance forces in the colonies, testing commanders of colonial outposts in exercises and ordering the quality of forces to be improved in all areas. She generally stuck with budget neutral actions, believing that the Army and Navy had the resources they needed to prevent any aggression, but were not making the best use of them. The exception to this was the defences of colonies themselves, which she bolstered for political reasons as much as strategic ones. She also sent envoys to the batarians on the Citadel, and these were received well. However, the negotiations were in fact a ruse. The batarian diplomats were entirely loyal to the cause of strangling humanity's expansion. As a result, by the time of the battle of Mindoir, Gasperi began to hope that the conflict could be resolved by talking, and had no reason to believe that humanity was about to be the subject of one of the most brutal assaults it had ever endured.

* * *

**Kesrak Ar'dra**_, Vice-Hegemon of the Batarian Hegemony_

In stark contrast to his human counterpart, the political mastermind behind the batarian escalation of hostilities with the Alliance and the brutality at Mindoir was in the midst of a life or death struggle for power. Kesrak Ar'dra was born into a high ranking batarian family, and raised for the world of politics. A staunch protector of the batarian caste system and slavery, he was also an advocate for the military. By 2170, he was the undisputed leader of the hardliner faction within the Hegemony's aristocracy, and had organised the batarian pirate campaign against human colonies since the end of Spectre involvement. Combining noble respectability with contacts among pirates and mercenaries, he aimed to become Hegemon.

In this goal, he was not alone however. The aging hegemon Drok Pracnass was increasingly feeble, and delegated his governmental duties in favour of spending time in his harem. He favoured Ar'dra and another vice-hegemon named Ghan Saderoh. Both wished to succeed to the throne. Ar'dra despised Saderoh, not only out of rivalry but also due to ideology. Saderoh preached that the Verge was meaningless, that the destiny of the batarians lay in the wider galaxy. He advocated entente with the Alliance and Citadel species in favour of war with the mercenaries and minor species of the Terminus Systems. In doing so, he offended every fibre of Ar'dra's being, who not only relied on the very same mercenaries for part of his power base, but also believed that aliens only had one place in the caste system, that of slaves.

Normally, such political disputes would have been resolved either by duel or by assassination, depending on the circumstances. Ar'dra could rely on neither, however. Saderoh was a renowned marksman and a biotic to boot, a duel would have been suicide for the hardliner. To complicate matters, Saderoh also had a large support bloc of his own, meaning that an assassination by either side would have resulted in civil war, regardless of whether or not an attempt succeeded. As he had no desire to hand the Alliance a perfect opportunity to take the entire Skyllian Verge or see his own grave, the ambitious vice-hegemon required another gambit to take power.

Mindoir was to be that gambit. A disproportionately well populated agricultural colony, Ar'dra knew it was less well defended than other colonies from the vast intelligence network he had created for the pirate operations. This was due to its lack of real industry, as well as humanity's colonial defence policy that assigned garrison forces to recon and the evacuation of civilians to safe areas.

Once he knew what he was going to do, Ar'dra's next challenge was to convince the pirate groups to work together. Despite the obvious wealth to be gained in enslaving an entire colony, this task was considerably more tiresome than one would imagine. Many of the pirate groups that the batarians used had fought each other as much as they had fought the Alliance, resulting in barely controlled blood feuds. Ar'dra, not a patient person by any standard, unleashed his loyal Batarian External Forces soldiers on leaders who would not cooperate and brought all the groups into line under his own command. In doing so, he almost tipped his hand to humanity's intelligence services, who noticed that half the pirate barons of the Verge were dropping dead at the time. However, nothing was done about it, and Ar'dra was free to reorganise the pirates along more militaristic lines. In addition to these forces, the vice-hegemon hired Blood Pack krogan mercenaries to act as the shock troops of the operation. He was well aware of just how dangerous humanity's ground forces could be even when outnumbered and surrounded, and prepared accordingly.

Ar'dra gathered as many resources from the Hegemony as he could muster, and these were to be considerable. His ultimate objective was to lead his people into a glorious new age, with humanity as a vassal species. In order to step closer to this, he would have to produce a spectacular victory and take power from his rival. With Mindoir he would succeed in taking that step, even if his dreams of a batarian empire spanning the entire Traverse was to remain unrealised fantasy.


	3. MINDOIR: Strategy

STRATEGY FOR OFFENCE

Once the decision to attack Mindoir had been made, the Vice-Hegemon Ar'dra delegated the actual planning of the operation itself to his loyalist generals. In doing so, he laid out several conditions that had to be met in order for it to be a success. The first of these was to render the Alliance defences entirely helpless, and if possible to destroy them entirely. This was the more daunting of the conditions, particularly as the reputation of human soldiers and ship crews was one of both discipline and unpredictability. The reason for the requirement was to impress upon the Alliance that their defences were meaningless, and that capitulation was the only option. The second condition was that the absolute maximum number of colonists were to be abducted, preferably every last human being on the planet. The rationale for this was more practical, the pirates whom would be assisting the operation were not working for free and the cost of having them participate in such a dangerous action was to be considerable. Furthermore, it would add to the intimidation effect that Ar'dra desired. The last condition was that as few batarian assets as possible were to be used. There was particular emphasis on avoiding the use of naval assets, as Ar'dra's rival Saderoh had considerably more clout with the batarian fleets and would be notified if a larger than usual number of ships were used.

The batarian generals and intelligence officers added conditions of their own to the operation, drawing from their now well-honed experience at fighting the Alliance. Chief of these was that the attack would have to be as swift as possible. The Hegemony was well aware of the Alliance's doctrine. The enemy's defence forces would fight a delaying action, while the fleets mobilised a devastating counter-attack The attack would therefore have to be as quick as possible, and some measure devised to delay deployment of the Alliance relief fleet if possible. Another consideration was human superiority in ground forces. In every engagement on the ground, the pirates found themselves entirely outmatched even when they outnumbered Alliance troops. This was largely due to superiority in equipment, but specific concerns about the virtuosity of Alliance forces were also planned for. Human forces were adept at combined arms tactics and had the uncanny ability to turn ambushes into traps for ambushers. They also relied heavily on drones for more repetitive military duties, freeing troops up for offensive operations, something that could not be counteracted effectively except by swift aggression.

With these conditions in mind, the batarian officers laid out what would become Operation Righteous Cause over the course of several weeks.

The attack was to begin by drawing Mindoir's defence flotillas away from the planet itself by seizing the fuel stations orbiting the gas giant Seiren. For this task, the Batarian 43rd Attack Flotilla was to be drafted from the navy. Consisting of three cruisers and six frigates, the formation would be more than a match for the torpedo corvettes that Mindoir had to defend itself with. Most importantly, the formation had been deployed by Ar'dra's forces before, to screen the escape of pirates, and so using it again would not provoke suspicion within the Hegemony. The flotilla was to be commanded by Dhark Ar'dra, the vice-hegemon's cousin and a key supporter of the hardliner faction in the navy. This phase of the operation was to be drawn out as long as possible, in order to buy time for the ground forces and pirate vessels. Simultaneous with the main naval assault, individual pirate frigates were to attack all over the sector to cause confusion and redirect Alliance naval assets. These were to hold out and evade the enemy for as long as possible, again to purchase time to harvest Mindoir's population.

The next phase would begin as soon as the Alliance ships were drawn out of position. Batarian military forces were to be dropped by shuttle around the main Alliance Army strongpoints, surrounding them, cutting them off from each other and from the civilians. These were to be strangled, and then cracked open by a combined assault of krogan and biotic specialists. It was hoped that by concentrating on the military targets first, the Alliance would fall into a defensive mentality, allowing the abduction of the entire civilian population. For this purpose, the 3rd Corps of the Batarian External Forces was recruited. Commanded by General Khasvan Gadnalak, the force consisted of three crack divisions of infantry, two of which would be committed to the assault on Mindoir with the third held in reserve. The force represented some of the best troops that the Batarian Hegemony had to offer, and their deployment betrayed the regard which the batarian commanders held for human soldiers. In addition, the Omega Blood Pack committed platoons of krogan shock troops under Verm Muksar. These were far from the best krogan mercenaries in the galaxy, and indeed their commander was in poor standing with both the Blood Pack and the batarians. They appeared to have been selected from the most troublesome krogan mercenaries as a means for the leadership of the Blood Pack to be rid of them, but their natural combat ability would nonetheless prove useful.

Once the Alliance forces were surrounded and unable to move, pirate forces were to be dropped by shuttle near the population centres. At the same time, mercenaries were to take control of spaceports, communications facilities and utilities centres. The pirates would fan out, and begin taking civilians street-to-street. The captives would be moved in large groups to the spaceports for transport. Every available ship on the ground was to be hijacked and specially prepared cargo ships would arrive as soon as the space around Mindoir was secure enough. Areas near besieged Alliance military facilities were to be attacked last, to encourage the humans to sally out and batter themselves against the batarians' defences. The countryside was also to be scoured by roving bands of pirates in shuttles to abduct the rural population.

When the civilians were taken care of or if the Alliance Navy arrived to relieve the colony, the batarians and their allies would withdraw behind their flotilla's protective screen. Should the flotilla be unable to hold off the Alliance ships, it was to turn its guns on the colony and hold the remaining human soldiers and civilians hostage until the evacuation was complete. The whole force would then return to secure batarian space with their captives.

Ar'dra approved the plan after reading its entirety in a single sitting, saying it was the most glorious thing he had ever seen. Preparations began immediately, and for three months, the forces under General Gadnalak drilled and trained for their specific roles. Civilian ships were impressed or captured for service as prisoner transports, and cages were built in their holds. The mercenaries were hired in small groups. Kept in the dark as to the exact nature of the conflict they were about to participate in, they were trained heavily for their specific roles in conditions of the utmost secrecy.

* * *

STRATEGY FOR DEFENCE

Alliance military strategy for the defence of its colonies relied heavily on their experience at Shan'xi during the First Contact War. In that conflict, Alliance ground forces successfully delayed the enemy for a period of time, despite terrible odds. Turian forces had been forced to de-orbit satellites and use heavy artillery to clear out areas of resistance. In the case of Xi'an Valley, they were even forced to deploy their most elite infantry and armour units against the United States Marine Corps. However, the Alliance ground forces were comprehensively defeated and forced to surrender, a matter of some controversy even to this day. A month later, the Second Fleet under Admiral Drescher arrived in force over the colony and repulsed the turian navy. Fresh troops were dropped from orbit, and the turian ground forces were then themselves forced to surrender after enduring a devastating show of force.

The Alliance High Command drew two primary lessons from the conflict.

The first was that Alliance Army units could hold out even in the face of air and space superiority, under the right conditions. The chiefs of the Army therefore endeavoured to create the right conditions, in as many ways as possible. Every colony officially recognised by the Alliance had bunkers constructed, with stores of weapons, armour, food and water. These were very carefully camouflaged from detection by space-borne sensors, and were protected on the ground by drones. Gene scanning equipment was installed to insure that only humans could gain access to the bunkers, and access in peacetime was impossible. Hidden anti-aircraft and anti-spacecraft weaponry were similarly distributed on a smaller scale in separate bunkers. Advanced sensory networks were installed on particularly at-risk colonies for intelligence gathering, and coupled with both FTL-comms and message drone capabilities to deliver gathered information back to Arcturus. Finally, jamming devices were installed to disrupt enemy communications. As a border colony, Mindoir was one of the first worlds to receive these upgraded defences.

The second lesson that the Alliance was taught by the First Contact War was that it had to build a system in its navy to relieve besieged garrisons on colonies quickly. It had taken nearly a month to mobilise a naval task force capable of annihilating the turian flotillas over Shan'xi, and the operation had been delayed several times seemingly for intelligence and readiness reasons. Such a delay was deemed unacceptable in the aftermath of the war, and measures were taken in the Navy to maintain the highest levels of readiness possible. The Black Forest Protocol was instituted as the centrepiece of the reforms. Named for the Black Forest in Germany, where tribes of antiquity were often cut off by terrain and weather in winter, the protocol laid out the exact reactions to specific circumstances that the Alliance might find itself in. If a colony was attacked, constant communication was to be maintained with garrison forces for intelligence gathering. This would then allow pre-prepared naval task forces, to react immediately and to the exact extent required. If a colony went dark without any word from its defenders, recon elements were to be deployed at once, and multiple naval and army task forces were to be rallied for a full scale counter-attack. This protocol would later be updated after the battle to include retaliatory and punitive strikes against the known aggressor's own colonies and military installations.

On Mindoir itself, defence plans had been reformed entirely as a result of the arrival of Major-General De Santos, the new garrison commander. Alliance troops had previously been barracked centrally in a single huge base, while several smaller temporary bases were manned on a rotation. This system was dismantled as it allowed an enemy to bombard the central base, wiping out the majority of Alliance forces at a single stroke. A mere two weeks before the battle, the majority of troops were moved quietly out to the decentralised positions and barracked there. The armoured forces in particular were moved further out into the countryside, where it was reckoned that any major enemy landing would occur. Meanwhile, the main base was maintained at its full size and the drop in manpower replaced with drones, to give the impression that nothing had changed. Anti-aircraft defences were ordered to be buffered as well, but the equipment would not arrive in time for the fighting. It remains a point of debate whether or not they would have made a decisive difference in the face of such a determined attack.

The evacuation of civilians to the bunker complexes was added to the role of the garrison forces after the Alliance Defence Intelligence Directorate warned all border colonies that major batarian raiding operations were being prepared in the Verge. The warning came too late for serious effort to be put into prioritising civilian evacuations, and the plan could not have taken into account the scale of the attack. Contrary to Alliance thought, rather than raiding several worlds at once, the batarians intended to concentrate on Mindoir alone, and the garrison forces were entirely inadequate for the job.


	4. MINDOIR: The Commanders

THE COMMANDERS

**Major-General Francesa de Santos**_, Commanding Officer, 737__th__ Infantry Divsion (SAF), XXXVI Legion, Mindoir Garrison_

Born in Chile, de Santos first served in combat during the 2139-45 Cold War as a lieutenant in the Army of the South American Federation. Her combat record in that war includes the only successful boarding action against an American titan, where her platoon successfully breached the titan's interior and destroyed its reactor core before escaping. She was captured soon after, and spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp in the United States. Upon release at the war's end, she discovered that she was something of a minor celebrity for her actions, and was promoted to Captain. With the formation of the Alliance military, she was transferred to the combined military hierarchy of humanity as one of South America's contributions to the officer corps.

By the outbreak of the First Contact War, De Santos had reached the rank of Major and was commanding a company of paratroopers from her native Chile. The infantry division to which it was attached was one of those selected for the assault to liberate Shan'xi, and her company was assigned to guard the flank of the famous Task Force Wizna during its main push against turian forces. Her performance during this conflict was followed in the post-war years with several actions against pirates, for which she was repeatedly promoted. With a reputation for cunning as well as a healthy regard for air and space assets, she was well regarded in the Alliance military from all quarters.

It was this reputation that brought De Santos to Mindoir. While entirely unaware about exactly what was about to happen, the Alliance's intelligence networks had picked up all the signs of a major batarian offensive. Mindoir's defences were in the worst shape of all those designated as vulnerable to attack, and De Santos, now a Major-General, was given command of the 737th Infantry Division of the South American Federation. Assigned to get the garrison and militia forces into shape, she worked with her customary energy, firing incompetent colonial officials, optimising deployments of both her own forces and those of the militia, and insuring that every position in the garrison could hold out against attack until relieved either by her own troops or Alliance reinforcements. It was these foresighted preparations that would help to save approximately a quarter of Mindoir's population from slavery, the only silver lining the Alliance were to grasp in the aftermath of the battle.

* * *

**General Khasvan Gadnalak**_, Chief Commander, 3__rd__ Corps, Batarian External Forces_

Not much is known about the origins and life of the man who led the attack on Mindoir. This is largely due extensive damage inflicted on the batarian worlds during the Reaper War, when significant amounts of records were lost and not backed up. Furthermore, every person that knew him is dead and the man himself remains missing to this day. It is presumed that he died in 2184, though this presumption remains impossible to prove.

What is known is largely derived from propaganda and scraps of records recovered from refugees. Gadnalak was a hardliner loyalist who shared Vice-Hegemon Ar'dra's view that batarians should be dominant in the Verge and throughout the Traverse, and was the organiser of many of the raids designed to test Alliance defences. Given his rank and the unit he commanded, it can be safely assumed that he had spent a great deal of his career on infiltration and combat missions in the Terminus Systems. It is also said that he was born into a lower caste than many batarian commanders, but was raised higher due to his competence in intelligence gathering and in combat.

For the battle of Mindoir, a truly remarkable story circulates to this day in batarian rebel circles. It is said that on the eve of the attack on the colony, Gadnalak visited it under a false name and personally walked the streets of its capital, New Omaha. While this seems absurd at first glance, surviving colonial registration records for the spaceport on Mindoir do confirm that a single batarian visited and left only days before the assault. If the story is true, it demonstrates the General's remarkable nerve, a trait that would serve him well during the battle. His ultimate fate no one will ever know for certain, but his actions on Mindoir will continue to make him one of the most notorious figures in galactic history for many years to come.


	5. MINDOIR: The Opposing Forces

THE OPPOSING FORCES

_**Mindoir Defence Garrison**_

By 2170, the planetary defence forces of the border colonies had been bolstered considerably. This was primarily in response to the pirate attacks that had began five years earlier. Each individual nation also instituted its own colonial protection measures. American colonists were compelled by law to own firearms and drill on Sundays for the defence of their homes, while most of the other Earth powers had dedicated colonial taxes for the maintenance of automated defences and kinetic barriers.

Mindoir is a joint US-European colony, and as such its indigenous defence preparations were a compromise between the perspectives of its parent countries. Weapons ownership was not compulsory, but a large colonial militia was maintained via general taxation. Out of a population of approximately 1.2 million civilians, 2% were active militia and another 7-8% were part of the reserves. These were divided into eight infantry divisions, two active and six paramilitary, but only the active service personnel would participate in the battle as the paramilitaries were cut off from their weapons. The training of most of the troops was basic, and they were generally only suited for static defence or guerrilla operations. However, their leadership was competent and aware of their limitations, and some of the militia commanders were Alliance veterans of the First Contact War hired for their experience. The militia were to cause some trouble for the pirates during the abduction of the population, but at a huge cost in casualties. Some of the full-time militia units would be reduced to 5% of their paper strength due to the sheer numbers of soldiers dead or captured. The paramilitaries would not even get a chance to fight in most cases.

However, the backbone of the garrison was the 737th Infantry Division (SAF) under General De Santos, from the 36th Legion of the Alliance Army. The unit consisted of two infantry brigades and an armoured brigade, all from the South American Federation and its colonies, for a total strength of fifteen thousand men and women, two hundred and forty tanks, two hundred artillery pieces, sixty gunships, and one hundred and twenty assault walkers. These were all fully professional troops, equipped with some of the best weapons of the day and fully aware of what was expected of them. Morale in the force was good, mostly due to the notion that border duty was a relatively easy posting and combat pay was available even if no real combat happened. The pirate raids that had been encountered before tended to end in Alliance victories, albeit at the expense of civilians. Discipline had been lax until De Santos' arrival, at which point it was restored to a respectable level under the reforms instituted by the general. These troops would perform excellently in all regards, having the advantage of armour over both the militia and the enemy forces, but would be unable to prevent the atrocities about to be committed.

_**3rd Corps, Batarian External Forces**_

The Batarian External Forces was the overall organisation commanding the most elite of batarian units, containing the best ground forces and ships to transport them anywhere in the galaxy. They had fought as part of Citadel forces during several crisis moments in secondary fronts, and more recently had seen serious action in the Terminus Systems. Their duties also covered intelligence gathering, external propaganda and criminal activity for funding. Total deniability was at the heart of almost all operations conducted by the External Forces, a deliberate policy to avoid involvement of the Citadel Council in batarian affairs. Mindoir was to be one of the few operations carried out openly in the name of the unit.

The troops of the 3rd Corps were divided into three division sized units, each a quarter again as large as the largest Alliance unit on Mindoir. All of them were motorised infantry units, with each individual brigade-sized unit having large numbers of light vehicles mounting anti-personnel and anti-vehicle weaponry. The exact number of troops used in the Mindoir attack is uncertain due to losses of records, but it is estimated that close to eighty thousand were earmarked for the campaign, of which about fifty-four thousand were deployed in the attack itself. This number includes Blood Pack krogan "platoons" and batarian mercenary forces assigned for special tasks, but not pirates that rounded up the civilian population. The exact number of pirates involved is entirely unknown, but as many as eighty frigates or armed cargo vessels were in orbit over Mindoir when the Alliance Navy relief fleet arrived, and at least that number of slaver ships were involved in transporting civilians around the clock.

Selected in adolescence for physical capability, the recruits of the External Forces were subjected to brutality unmatched by any basic training regimen except for that of the Special Intervention Unit, itself the elite of the External Forces. Starting with hand-to-hand combat and working their way up through sidearms, assault weapons and heavy weapons, recruits were pitted against each other in vicious competition. Failures were sent to the regular batarian army as shock troops or NCOs, while about 25% of recruits were accepted. At this point, the ideological training began to compliment the physical and mental conditioning. The troops were drilled heavily in the chosen values of the Hegemony; to revere the Pillars of Strength, to protect the state and the caste system with their lives, and to act with cunning in doing so. Discipline both during and after training was brutal and absolute, with punishments ranging from loss of limbs to death for even minor infractions. Such punishments were rarely necessary past the training stage however, as recruits who failed to fit simply died. Lacking in heavy armour the force might have been, the External Forces more than made up for it in iron will and brutality, and Alliance forces would have reason to fear such units long after Mindoir.


	6. MINDOIR: The Weapons

THE WEAPONS

_**Alliance: L5-H Riesig Assault Walker**_

By 2170, the Riesig Assault Walker had been in service with human militaries for fifty years. Designed for the harsh conditions of the northern hemisphere of Earth, they are almost supernaturally reliable machines, requiring little maintenance and boasting excellent fuel efficiency. With an impressive array of weapons options, they can be outfitted for almost any job, from specialist anti-personnel roles to cracking bunkers and fixed defences.

The H variant was the most common in 2170. It possessed two 20mm gatling mass accelerator weapons capable of firing tungsten, disruptor, fragmentation or incendiary rounds at up to 6,000 rounds per minute. Mounted on the sides of the main cabin, these were referred to by troops as the "fangs" of the vehicle, not only because of their placement but also the effect they would have on targets. Vehicles hit by the weapon were sprayed with ragged holes as if bitten repeatedly by some giant beast, whereas infantry would be chewed to pieces entirely. In addition to this, the Riesig H had two multi-purpose missile pods on either side of the driver position. An 155mm mass accelerator was mounted on a remote turret on top with a coaxial machinegun, aimed by the commander seated behind the driver and firing HE-fragmentation or tungsten rounds. Some models replaced the mass accelerator for an anti-aircraft missile system. For defensive purposes, the walker had modern kinetic barrier technology, ablative and hyper-dense plate armour, an active defence system and a highly advanced sensor array.

With its formidable offensive and defensive capabilities, the Riesig is assigned primarily to infantry units to bolster them against armoured attack, and to provide them with support in rough terrain where tanks or anti-grav vehicles would be at a disadvantage. In the streets of New Omaha and other towns on Mindoir, this would prove a very necessary thing, as the batarians turned every junction into a killing zone. The one hundred and twenty Riesig walkers on Mindoir can be credited with saving the urban pockets of the 737th Infantry from being slaughtered, providing weight to the human concept that every military problem has an engineering solution. The batarians would be taught to fear the weapon in many campaigns to come.

* * *

_**Alliance: M-40 Orca Main Battle Tank**_

The Orca MBT is named for the killer whale of Earth, and was co-developed alongside the Mako APC. Designed for extreme survivability against all forms of ground-based weapons, the Orca incorporated new technologies into a tracked heavy armour hull and a turret system. Slower than the Mako but faster than the Riesig, it was based on the old A-8 Tiger, which had performed well during both the Cold War and the First Contact War. It had a low profile compared to either the Mako or Riesig, giving it a considerable advantage in armoured warfare over either. It required more maintenance than either as well however, mainly due to its numerous redundant systems and large engine.

Its complement of armament was considerable. As its first role is to destroy enemy armour, its primary weapons are an 155mm long-barrel mass-accelerator which is also deployed on the Mako, and an extreme-range guided missile system, which would later become the primary armament of the M-44 Hammerhead series. The ammunition of these weapons can be varied according to the target being fired upon, with HE fragmentation, disruptor and tungsten rounds available for both. It also possesses three machineguns, one coaxial, one hull-mounted and another on the top of the turret with a grenade launcher. For defence, it had kinetic barriers, active defence systems, smoke/decoy launchers, hyper-dense sloped armoured plating coated with non-explosive reactive armour sections, and sensory equipment in small pods facing all directions.

The armoured brigade of the 737th Infantry contained 240 Orca tanks. These were deployed near the river flood plains and rolling farmlands where they would be most effective, and where it was assumed an enemy invasion would strike first. Although a single Orca could destroy any number of batarian vehicles in the open, the invaders were careful to avoid landing zones where they could be attacked in such a manner. Despite this, the tanks would play a crucial role in bringing the battle to a close.

* * *

_**Batarian Hegemony: Personal Kinetic Barriers**_

Kinetic barriers, or "shields", were a piece of military equipment on the rise by the time of the Battle of Mindoir. First encountered by humans during the Battle of Xi'an Valley, they had a high per-unit cost until the mid-2170s. As such, only elite military forces were issued with them both in the private and public sectors. The soldiers of the Batarian External Forces, and in particular those loyal to Vice-Hegemon Ar'dra, had received them en masse. Every batarian soldier on Mindoir was protected by a kinetic barrier system, giving their infantry a considerable one-to-one advantage in defences over the Alliance Army regulars they faced.

Coupled with the iron discipline and cunning tactics of the External Forces, the barriers became a weapon in themselves. Troops could be used for bait with far less risk to lives and materiel, and massed charges made against Alliance defensive positions that would have been certain suicide to unshielded troops. Kinetic barriers would have a huge impact on both the outcome and tactics of both sides in the battle.

* * *

_**Batarian Hegemony: Biotics**_

One of the most devastating weapons in the arsenal of the Batarian Hegemony were not built, but were born. The biotic assault trooper is a formidable living weapon, placed into a unit of similar soldiers, given the best in equipment for tech attacks, and high motivated. The ability to manipulate mass over a distance with nothing but an amplifier and their own bodies was one the External Forces valued extremely highly, and biotic individuals were conscripted into service as soon as they could walk. The high instances of biotic potential in batarians before the Reaper War has created some debate as to whether or not the Hegemony was deliberately exposing pregnant women or children to element zero in the hopes of increasing their number. While the only solid evidence for this is the large number of biotics in the batarian military between 2170 and 2184, the theory is compelling due to the motivations of the batarian state at the time.

The biotic squads would cause some of the most grievous casualties to Alliance forces in the course of the battle, acting alongside the krogan platoons in the assaults on the human strongpoints. The impression left on the commanders of the garrison would spread to the High Command once combat telemetry was analysed. The Alliance would found the Army Biotic Assault Corps under the auspices of the First Legion, once enough biotics had come of age two years later. The memory of men being tossed like rag dolls by the batarian attackers on Mindoir would later come to haunt the perpetrators, as the favour was repaid on Anhur and Torfan. In 2170 however, such things were to seem almost inconceivable as the biotics of the External Forces aided the great defeat.


	7. MINDOIR: The Battle

THE EVE OF BATTLE

On October 1st, the last batarian reconnaissance effort began. Orbital scans of the planet were made from the refuelling station, a favourite technique of the External Forces. The recon vessels entered the system as if to refuel, went to the station and took high resolution data from afar using their sensors as they topped up their tanks. This was done primarily to confirm that no new defences had been set up. It is also during these opening moments that General Gadnalak is supposed to have made his brief visit to Mindoir under a fake identity.

Meanwhile, the Alliance Navy was not resting. The attack on Mindoir itself had to be delayed for as a cruiser patrol moved through the system, and the date was moved back to October 5th, two days later than planned. The patrol had in fact been an indicator that the Alliance knew that something was about to happen, but their intelligence services had still been unable to discover any real details. The reason for this was simple, as the date for the attack approached, Gadnalak had ordered the deaths anyone with even periphery knowledge concerning the attack in the last week of September. Anyone who wasn't part of the operation but had contributed or discovered something to do with it was hunted down mercilessly. One report claims that he called this "sharpening the blade" for the kill.

To further throw off the Alliance, the general insured the pirate preparations for the diversionary attacks on other systems were much less well protected from discovery. He even leaked some of the details of those planned attacks to the Shadow Broker, in the hopes that the information trader would go to the Alliance with an offer. The ruse worked, and Alliance naval and army resources were deployed towards those areas. Mindoir was put on high alert as well, but it was not reinforced either with ground troops or ships, without which the defences would be overwhelmed.

* * *

THE BATTLE

_**Phase 1: The Fight In Space**_

The Batarian 43rd Attack Flotilla jumped into Mindoir's system when most of its inhabitants were asleep. Approaching the fuel stations around Seiren, they found them completely defenceless and quickly took control of both the structures and the workers. Survivors from the battle described the batarians calmly strolling onto a station, shooting two turian workers casually, and then rounding up the humans for transport into slavery. The brutality of the battle was to be deliberately levelled against humans as a matter of deliberate policy, as the few members of other species were simply removed one way or another.

The attack provoked the Alliance into the response that the batarians had hoped for, and Dhark Ar'dra's naval force was soon attacked by the garrison's corvette squadron. Rather than destroying them outright, the commander evaded the enemy. In the course of doing so, a frigate was heavily damaged by Alliance torpedoes, and had to be abandoned in orbit. The objective of the action was achieved in its entirety despite this, and the main batarian invasion force was given a free run at Mindoir itself. The batarian ships would toy with the corvettes for as long as possible, giving the impression of a more fair fight. This was done to make the Alliance hesitate to respond with absolute force, and continued until the abductions began and retaliation became certain. The Alliance ships were then at the receiving end of a brutal counter-attack, and every last corvette was destroyed.

* * *

_**Phase 2: The First Day**_

As the fighting in space continued, the shoals of batarian shuttles launched from the holds of landing ships and began landing troops at their objectives. The External Forces troops were landed on the night side of the planet, on the main continent where the vast majority of the population lived, and where the bases of the Alliance Army stood waiting. The assault took the garrison by surprise, and troops had to be awoken and prepared for the fight. The batarians landed around every major rally-point of the Alliance Army, surrounding each in turn. Resistance at this point was extremely light, limited only to police units and armed civilians. These were slaughtered almost to a man. By sunrise, each task group of the 3rd Corps took up their positions and began probing attacks on the Alliance bases. Gadnalak refrained from launching all-out assaults however, concerned that this would allow enemy forces to escape encirclements and counter-attack This was perhaps his only error during the battle, as if the batarians had pressed the bases in front of them immediately, the vast majority would have fallen and the planet would have been left utterly helpless.

The single exception to this was the headquarters on the outskirts of New Omaha, which had been designated to be taken as soon as possible. The batarians were unaware that it no longer contained the bulk of human military forces on the planet, and attacked it in the hope of crushing resistance before it started. The entirety of the Blood Pack complement and several biotic assault squads were assigned to the task under the 1st Battalion, and Gadnalak took the command himself to assure victory. When it became clear that she could not hold out in her HQ, General De Santos ordered a general evacuation, screening the retreat, both by air and ground transports, with the entirety of Mindoir's drone complement. This was not done without objections, particularly from the militia commanders, whom had serious concerns for the civilians to be left behind. However, at the time, De Santos had no reason to believe that the batarians had either the intention or the capability to abduct anything like the entire population. As the External Forces had not fired on civilians by any accounts, the General concluded correctly that it was a slaving raid, and that the Alliance had some time with which to consolidate.

By dawn, the Alliance forces were at full readiness, but the batarians had realised their mistake. Trying to make good, the group commanders were ordered to attack the Alliance bases directly. This had varying results, with some Alliance outposts being wiped out entirely and others inflicting grievous casualties on their attackers. Smaller infantry posts were hit hardest, and by the mid-afternoon, De Santos had ordered a consolidation of the infantry into larger units for their own protection. By contrast, the armoured brigade of the 737th had comprehensively defeated the forces sent to attack them, but this was in part due to no specialists from either the Blood Pack or the External Forces participating, and the bases of the brigade were by far the most remote from population centres.

Fighting continued all day, only to stop suddenly as the batarians retreated back to their siege lines for the night. This was a source of confusion for the Alliance command, as was the continued open communications link to Arcturus. All previous batarian attacks had started with undisciplined aggression and methodical destruction of communications infrastructure. The retreat had been due to the arrival of the pirates and mercenaries, who began to carry out their own objectives but had run into trouble with militia units. Many of the off duty militia soldiers had spent the day gathering weapons and preparing to resist, and by sunset, had been confronted with the sight of pirates rounding up civilians into large groups. Fierce fighting spread throughout most towns, and while the pirates were far from outmatched, they would be unable to complete their missions. Frustrated by their incompetence, Gadnalak halted the assaults on the Alliance bases. Prioritising the civilians for capture, he kept just enough soldiers besieging the professional human forces while he turned as many units as possible onto the streets to root out the paramilitaries. Going block by block, this objective was largely complete in most urban centres by the end of the day, and his forces did not have to face a determined attack on two sides.

By that time, De Santos would have known the true ambition of the assault. The defence corvettes had been destroyed, and a huge fleet entered orbit over the planet. A fleet made up not only of military and pirate ships, but transport vessels. Shuttles began moving civilians to the slave ships that night, and ran continuously until the very end of the assault. When these facts were reported to Alliance High Command, the reaction was one of complete shock. The consuls ordered a complete counter-attack, but General Gadnalak and Admiral Ar'dra's preparations had paid handsome dividends; due to the diversionary attacks elsewhere, the estimate was for two to three days to mass a force capable of retaking the colony. Mindoir was on its own.

* * *

**Phase 3: Atrocities**

General De Santos knew that in order to save as many lives as possible, she needed to attack. However, as the second day dawned, she had no capability to do so. Her infantry brigades were surrounded and holding on just barely, thanks to the tenacity of her troops and the advantage granted by her units' complement of assault walkers. She knew that even these would give out inside a week if they were not relieved, but she did have a force capable of doing just that. The armoured brigade had successfully broken the sieges of its bases, and were ready to move out to aid in the fight. The problem was their distance from the heavy fighting. As the batarians had near-complete air superiority, the tanks could not be airlifted close enough to the cities, and they would be unable to reach New Omaha until the middle of the next day at the earliest. Forced by circumstances, De Santos ordered her infantry to prepare for defence until the reinforcements could arrive.

Gadnalak was well aware of this predicament, but did not press the attack immediately. He had taken more casualties in the first day than he had anticipated, and planned to demoralise the Alliance troops before moving for the assault. He allowed De Santos to set up forward observation posts unmolested by fire, and then began moving his troops around to create the impression that he had a much larger force at his disposal. In particular, the krogan were marched in and out of the same landing ships to give the impression that they made up a larger percentage of the attacking units than was actually the case. This annoyed the krogan greatly, but did manage to convince De Santos that the krogan would be a major threat.

In addition to these deceptive measures, Gadnalak moved to provoke her into an unwise attack. Until the afternoon of the second day, the batarian commander insured that the civilians being rounded up were very visible to the troops of the besieged Alliance positions. This resulted in commanding officers barely being able to restrain their troops, and in the case of one position, they could not do so. In the southern town of Delaferme, an entire section of the Alliance defence cordon fell for the trap. Civilians close to the troops were brutalised within clear sight of their position. The troops advanced towards the scene, killing the batarians carrying out the atrocities, only to find themselves surrounded. With the defences of that base breached, the batarians attacked in force with biotics forming the tip of the spear, and the Delaferme Pocket fell in less than an hour. Only the lieutenant of the group that had attacked survived to relay the story. While a crushing victory for the batarians, the example also helped the Alliance maintain discipline. De Santos insured that the details of the incident were distributed to every position and unit.

When these crimes against civilians failed to produce any more foolhardy sallies, Gadnalak ordered full scale attacks on the three largest concentrations of Alliance forces, with the krogan and biotic shock troops taking the lead. The pockets in the towns of Bounty and Wheatfield held fast, repulsing the enemy attack. The other was less fortunate. In the pocket outside the capital, De Santos herself was almost killed when the krogan breached the defensive perimeter and stormed into her interior lines. Only rapid redeployment of the assault walkers from the outer defences to the centre of the base stopped the Blood Pack from taking the position, but this was not achieved without cost. The biotic assault units took advantage, and bloodied the rest of the defenders so badly that the General had to order a retreat to a smaller defensive line in order to compensate for losses.

By the end of the second day, the Alliance still stood its ground. Gadnalak extended an offer for the surviving forces to surrender, stating that they would not be renditioned into slavery if they did so. De Santos replied that she would rather be torn to pieces than see the inside of a batarian slave ship, not believing the offer to be anything close to genuine. She added that she was going to personally rip the batarian commander's eyes out of his head. Gadnalak's response to this defiance is unknown, but he did not have any particular reason to fear the threat. While most of the Alliance's defences held, they would not be able to affect a breakout in time, and the primary objective of the attack was moving ever closer to accomplishment with every passing hour. Two hundred thousand civilians had been rounded up and shipped off-world on the first day alone, and another two hundred thousand by the middle of the second day. Ships and shuttles moved in rotation to keep the numbers moving. Only the rate at which the civilians could be rounded up was slowing things, and the batarians began to resort to rolling artillery barrages to root out stragglers, herding them towards spaceports and fields where shuttles waited to take them.

* * *

_**Phase 3: Counter-attack and Defeat**_

The early-morning of October 7th provided the first glimmer of hope for De Santos' position, when the 737th's Armoured Brigade made a breakthrough against screening batarian forces between its position and the capital. The entire brigade was now storming towards the city, as the General hoped to capture the main spaceports to halt the flow of civilians to the slavers. Gadnalak was not aware of this, as the Alliance was finally able to begin jamming the batarian communications during the night. All attempts by his engineers to stop the jamming failed, and orbital bombardments of suspected transmitter sites did not end the interference. It would take days to figure out the secure channel pattern on which communications was possible. Concluding that a decentralised system for jamming had to have a mobile control device, he mustered his forces for a final assault on the position he knew De Santos was hiding in; the pocket outside of New Omaha.

In reality, the jamming signal was completely automated, with an advanced VI cyberwarfare programme controlling a transmitter drone network, making it very difficult to crack or halt. However, with the jamming online, De Santos knew that the batarians would assume she had control of it, and prepared for yet another confrontation. The forces defending her position had been seriously battered, but she was confident that her position could be held. The New Omaha pocket was on top of several deep bunkers and tunnel-works, allowing her troops to shelter from artillery and orbital bombardments. The majority of the assault walkers had also survived the trials of the previous two days, though many of the infantry and even more of the militia had not. She had ordered the outer defences that had been abandoned on the previous day to be booby-trapped, as well as mined with conventional and roller type devices.

The morning was quiet again, as the batarian forces withdrew from many of the outer urban areas, which had become ghost towns as a result of the abductions. These forces were returned to space, as Gadnalak now feared that an Alliance Navy force was close at hand, and he did not wish to see troops stranded on Mindoir's surface when it arrived. The pirates were left to their own devices however, and once all the civilians had either fled or had been rounded up, they began a wild orgy of looting and destruction for their own amusement. Those between the capital and the main agricultural areas would pay for this dearly, as the armoured brigade swept through in a wrathful wave, killing all pirates they encountered with utmost efficiency.

By midday, Gadnalak's assault was ready. As before, the biotics and krogan were at the front of the assault. However, this time, they were backed by as many of the vehicles as possible, most of them bearing some form of weapon capable of damaging the enemy walkers. The batarian force entered the outer perimeter without any resistance, to their surprise. The krogan charged forward, and the vehicles followed, eager to engage the Alliance troops behind the inner defences. In doing so, they entered the minefields. The krogan were sliced to ribbons by anti-personnel fragmentation mines. The mounted batarians made better progress, but soon found themselves being followed by metallic balls. These were roller-mines, and they were spectacularly effective against the thin armour of the batarian ground vehicles. Soon, the front of the human defences was littered with burning wrecks, the sight of which would not be forgotten by either side.

Only now did the defenders make an appearance, as the assault walkers massed with the infantry for the inevitable batarian second wave. Costly the first assault may have been, but the impetuous charge had created a large gap in the minefields and the carcasses of the vehicles now provided cover where there had been nothing but open ground before. Gadnalak spotted this, and formed up his troops for the final attack.

The biotics went in first as before, under the cover of an artillery barrage. However, unlike previous encounters, they did not make any real progress. They ended up pinned down in the breach by heavy Alliance fire from the walkers and troops of the 1st Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade. After several hours of fighting, De Santos ordered a strike from her gunships, which had been held in reserve due to fear of the batarians' air superiority. This action cost every gunship the Alliance had to achieve, but it paid off. Lacking heavy weaponry to deal with this threat, the batarian biotics were put to the sword before Gadnalak's eyes. Unable to accept defeat, he reacted to this setback with cold, calculated aggression. Every available soldier was sent into the breach in a mass attack, as their commander counted on the superior personal defences of each trooper to keep enough of them alive to sweep over the Alliance position. As the advance began, orbital strikes landed in the midst of the human positions, forcing them to retreat under their hardened defences. When the bombardment stopped, the Alliance soldiers were confronted with thousands of enemy soldiers at a distance of less than two hundred yards and closing.

As the troops in front held the line, De Santos ordered every available man and woman to the defences. Civilians who had never held a gun in their lives and personnel who did not do so except for their twice-yearly marksmanship training exercises were handed weapons, and told to fight for their very lives. De Santos herself and her general staff joined the fighting, resolving that it would be victory or death. The weight of fire exchanged between the two armies was unlike anything that would be seen until the battles during the Taetrus Conflict and the Reaper War itself. Soldiers shot at each other for an hour straight without respite. The human defences held, but only just. At several locations, the batarians reached the lines. Hand-to-hand fighting and horrendous losses characterised the fighting in these locations. With the integrity of the defences threatened, De Santos was forced to organise a roving squadron of five walkers to act as a mobile reserve. This measure stopped the holes in the line from becoming outright breaches, but this also allowed the batarians to reach the defences more often. The defenders were on the cusp of defeat.

Just as suddenly as despair threatened to set in, hope arrived. The humans looked on in incredulity as the batarians retreated en masse. The reasons for this became apparent quickly. The Armoured Brigade of the 737th was mere minutes away from arrival, and furthermore, the Alliance Navy's task force had arrived to relieve the planet. Gadnalak, having no desire to lose the entirety of his troops in the New Omaha sector, ordered a withdrawal. He had been caught by surprise by the swiftness of the Alliance armoured assault, and moved quickly to escape. De Santos wanted to follow the batarian retreat, to inflict as many losses on the enemy as possible, but her troops were exhausted and bloodied. Instead, she consolidated and sent out patrols to find the remaining civilians, or what few were left.


	8. MINDOIR: Aftermath

THE BATTLE WON

The batarians successfully withdrew from Mindoir without the loss of a single starship. When it became evident that a proportion of the civilian population could be on board the enemy vessels, the Alliance relief fleet held their fire, and the batarians made good their escape through the mass relays. The Hegemony's main goal for the operation was entirely fulfilled. Out of a civilian population of approximately 1.2 million, nearly nine hundred thousand colonists were either dead or missing, the great majority captured by the slavers. These were taken to Khar'shan itself for processing, where many were paraded en masse in spectacles for the political gain of Vice-Hegemon Ar'dra upon arrival. The Alliance meanwhile was forced to mop up the resistance of pirates stranded on the planet, and take account of what just had went wrong. It was a process that would change the nature of humanity's relationship with the galaxy forever, and one that would prepare the species for greater struggles that still lay unknown in the future.

The 737th Infantry Division had suffered 30% casualties, and these were concentrated almost exclusively in the two infantry brigades. Furthermore, the division lost eighty of its assault walkers, twenty six Orca tanks, and its entire complement of Mantis gunships. The militia losses were far worse, as they had borne the brunt of the initial assaults. It is estimated that every two in three militia soldiers were dead by the end of October 8th, with some units taking up to 90% casualties.

Batarian losses were comparable in numbers to Alliance figures, but they had deployed far more professional soldiers, and so the proportion of their forces destroyed was far smaller. However, the biotic and mobile troops had taken the brunt of these losses, and the batarians could ill afford the destruction of such experienced and useful troops. Due to the final battle for the New Omaha Pocket, Blood Pack losses were almost total, with only a dozen krogan making it off of Mindoir alive.

* * *

AFTER THE BATTLE

The immediate consequence of the battle was to set off a political and military crisis within the Systems Alliance. Consul Gasperi immediately appealed to the Citadel Council as soon as news of the attack had reached her, but when the batarian ambassador made it clear that any intervention would mean total war between the Citadel and the Batarian Hegemony, the request for aid was denied. This set off rioting across human space, which intensified when news of the scale of the defeat broke days later. Anti-alien sentiments rose sharply, giving Cerberus and Terra Firma real political capital and allowing the rise of both organisations. The former in particular grew spectacularly in size and wealth, and Mindoir can be credited with expanding the capabilities of Cerberus to carry out sophisticated terrorist activities on a galaxy-wide scale for the first time.

Despite the brutality and aggression of the attack, the consuls considered simply paying for the return of the kidnapped citizens of Mindoir. The batarians had not started a general offensive, but remained within their borders as before. Gasperi in particular did not think that the Alliance was ready for war, and tried desperately to avoid it. Alliance High Command was not of the same opinion, and the rank-and-file were even less amused by the notion that Mindoir would go unavenged. A collection of admirals and generals signed their name to a secret petition, demanding that war be declared or "such measures for the restoration of the Alliance's original purpose" would be made immediately. The threat was clear. The military would overthrow the consuls if they did not immediately move a declaration of war in parliament.

In truth, the consuls were on the edge of being ousted by the politicians anyway. Gasperi and Forrest's Conservative Party split immediately when the consuls' hesitation was made clear, with a "People's Party" forming by rebel members of parliament around the long-time party critic, Alice Dennison. This new party issued an ultimatum of their own; they would bring down the government in cooperation with the opposition and have the sitting consuls arrested if a declaration of war was not made on the Batarian Hegemony. Stuck between the military, the politicians and an enraged public, Gasperi relented and reluctantly declared war. The batarians would return the kidnapped citizens or face the wrath of the legions and fleets of humanity.

However, the consul's assessment that that Alliance was not ready for war was to be proven correct. Over the course of the next month and a half, naval engagements against the Hegemony were stalemates, and no real progress towards defeating the enemy navy was made. Troops were successfully landed on some outer batarian colonies, but the war threatened to turn into one of attrition. This was unacceptable to the High Command, as well as the public at large. Calls by extremists for the deployment of the capital weapons carried by the deterrence fleet were soon echoed by the admirals running the war. A statement needed to be made, they said. The threat of a coup d'état was again issued, this time demanding that three batarian colonies be selected and the full wrath of humanity's nuclear arsenal be deployed against them. Gasperi was disgusted, but unable to bring herself to allow the end of human democracy for the sake of the batarians. She agreed, and selected the three least populated batarian colonies for nuclear annihilation.

The weapons of mass destruction were deployed, and thousands of batarian colonists turned to ash. The galaxy now knew of humanity's resolve, and were horrified. The Citadel Council finally intervened, unable to ignore the escalation in the conflict. The turians moved their fleets into the region, placing them between the two species, and declared the border a military exclusion zone. Forced to stop fighting by the armed might of the Citadel, the asari brokered a ceasefire. The batarians were to return the kidnapped citizens of Mindoir, and humanity was to compensate the families of the batarians killed in the nuclear attacks. Both sides were forced to agree to this, and so the First Verge War was brought to an end with the only one major battle fought; Mindoir. However, every grievance that had led to the conflict remained. The issue of colonisation of the region remained unresolved, as did the issue of continuing batarian pirate activity. Adding to these problems, the batarians returned only a fraction of the kidnapped populace, claiming that most had died in transit due to resisting their capture. The Alliance and the Hegemony would fight each other again.

* * *

General Francesa De Santos was honoured for her defence of Mindoir, but wherever she went, she was a continual reminder of a catastrophic defeat, a problem that haunted her in every command she took afterwards. Unable to shake the "Curse of Mindoir", she was eventually promoted to Field Marshal in 2172 with the arrival of a new government, but she retired to her native Chile soon afterwards. She published an account of her combat experiences in 2176 entitled _To Fight For Earth_ and it became a best-seller both in human circles and beyond. She died in 2186 during the Reaper invasion of her homeworld, convinced that she had done everything in her power to save the people of Mindoir.

* * *

By contrast, General Khasvan Gadnalak was deeply unsatisfied with his performance during the campaign. Although hugely lauded and made into a celebrity among Hegemony loyalists for his leadership, he thought that the fighting had exposed serious weaknesses in both the External Forces and himself. In the aftermath of Mindoir, he pushed for serious reforms in the batarian military, with the Alliance as a model. These were met with varying enthusiasm, and their most widespread influence was that of copied human equipment. On a personal level, Mindoir made Gadnalak the man that batarian rebels would praise for decades to come. He dedicated himself to all things military, becoming a paragon of batarian virtues, pushing himself to the edge at every necessary moment. By 2184, he had disappeared, and his ultimate fate remains unknown.

* * *

Vice-Hegemon Ar'dra succeeded to the highest position in the Hegemony soon after Mindoir, his dream of leading his people fulfilled. With the conflict with humanity unresolved, he made a formal request of the Council to have the Skyllian Verge declared a zone of batarian interest. Although disguised as a long term peace plan between the Alliance and the Hegemony, he aimed to buy time and resources for him to crush the humans. When the Council refused to impose such a measure, he ended formal diplomatic relations with the Citadel species, and the batarians withdrew into their borders to bide their time. The Hegemony would become increasingly tyrannical under his rule, and Ar'dra would die during the Great Upheaval, an event that was largely of his own creation.

* * *

For Consul Anka Gasperi, the failure of the batarians to return all the kidnapped citizens of Mindoir was the last straw. She resigned, and took it upon herself to write to every surviving family that had experienced a loss. She worked night and day on the mammoth task, spurning politics and her own life for months to complete it. Her letters largely restored her public image, but the guilt she felt about the batarian attack could not be stemmed by any means. Once every family had received an apology, she committed suicide, opening her throat with the sword she had received at her inauguration as consul. In the end, Mindoir had also claimed one of the brightest minds ever produced by humanity. She was honoured by her great political rival Consul Nozomi Taro upon her death in 2173, and granted the only state-funeral for a political leader ever organised by the Alliance. Gasperi was buried in a small cemetery in Italy, her father's land. Some of her letters were gathered and published in a collection in 2178, after Mindoir had been avenged on Torfan and in the Kite's Nest.


	9. ELYSIUM: Prelude to Battle

_AUTHOR'S FOREWORD: _

_Here's the first part of the next major battle fought by humanity: Elysium! Obviously, there are a couple of changes from the canon, most notably that Elanos Haliat is a turian, not human. This is mainly because he was supposed to be turian in the games, as some of you may know. Beyond that, it all fits with the Battlefield 2183 AU.  
_

_Enjoy!_

**THE VERGE CONFLICT: _Battle of Elysium (2176)_**

On February 22nd 2176, nearly six years after the Battle of Mindoir, combined military forces from the Terminus Systems and the Batarian Hegemony struck at the Alliance colony of Elysium. The brainchild of Elanos Haliat, a turian robber-baron from near the Far Rim with a reputation for organisation of large scale raids, the operation was by far the most ambitious military action ever undertaken by either the batarians or their pirate allies. The intention was to seize the colony, the crown jewel of the Alliance in the Skyllian Verge, and use it as a base from which to roll back human expansion once and for all.

It was proposed as the cement of a new power bloc in the galaxy, a combined Batarian-Terminus axis to stretch from the Kite's Nest all the way to geth space along the galactic north-west corridors. The ambition arose out of the incapability of the Systems Alliance to stamp out the pirates and mercenaries employed by the batarians in the wake of the successful attack on Mindoir. For four years, rival human and batarian employed privateers, pirates and mercenaries fought each other across the Attican Traverse, Skyllian Verge and Terminus Systems, in a conflict now known as the Mercenary War. The failure of humanity to bring the pirates to defeat in sufficient time gave their enemies the confidence to mount a major attack once again.

The batarians and pirate 'lords' would deploy fully half of their combined naval assets, and nearly four million ground troops in total. They would lose almost all of them, including a number of the Hegemony's dreadnoughts. The confidence of their commanders however was not entirely displaced. The battle, albeit fought on the defenders' own terms, came very close to inflicting another humiliating defeat on humanity at a time when such an event would have caused anarchy. As it happened however, the batarians were defeated in detail. The Second Verge War would follow, and the galaxy would hang in the balance for its result, though none knew it at the time.

* * *

PRELUDE TO THE BATTLE:

In 2170, humanity suffered a horrendous defeat at the hands of batarian forces under General Gadnalak. Hundreds of thousands had been kidnapped from their homes on Mindoir, and by 2176, only about half had been repatriated under the Council-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended the First Verge War. Humanity's former leader, Consul Anka Gasperi, took her own life in shame. Her Conservative Party split and fell out of favour, eventually dissolving due to electoral defeat, as the general election of 2172 saw the Labour Party come to power. Mindoir, it was proven, had changed humanity forever, in a way that the Occupation of Shan'xi had failed to do. "Liberty or Death" were to be the watchwords of the new administration.

In the Batarian Hegemony, the political consequences were equally severe. It too had fallen under the sway of a new government, one far more ruthless and belligerent. The decadence of the previous decades' leadership was swept away. Confidence that batarians were the greatest species in the galaxy rose sharply, as praises of the victors of Mindoir were sung to the skies and the proxy war against humanity continued to favour the Hegemony's new found ambitions. By 2176, very little could have prevented the Batarians from eventually restarting their open campaigns against the Systems Alliance, so intoxicated with themselves they had become. In addition, ties to the Terminus Systems had grown very strong indeed, as batarian contracts poured wealth into the coffers of pirates and mercenary companies alike. Both parties to the invasion of Elysium had little reason to believe that anything other than a complete victory lay ahead of them.

Mindoir's consequences were not reserved for the three parties to be involved in the fighting to come, however. The year after the attack on the colony, the Hegemony made the formal request that the Verge be transferred to them by the Citadel, as a means to a permanent peace settlement in the region. The plan was a ruse to gain strategic staging areas for the invasion of other human territories, a fact pointed out by humanity's ambassadors and one soon confirmed by Special Tasks Group agents. The request was rejected, with the asari in particular rebuking it with the disdain only they can muster. Elysium, rich and populous, was particularly prized by many in the batarian government, and the denial of this turned the interest in the colony into obsession. This obsession permeated to the highest levels, and soon afterwards, the Batarian Hegemony ended diplomatic relations with the Citadel, effectively making it a rogue state. Treaties, economic agreements, contracts, and in the case of some asari, personal relationships, ended instantly by government decree.

Humanity was aware of batarian ambitions. It engaged mercenaries and privateers of its own to harass their enemy. The lack of direct attacks was due to two factors. The turians were still enforcing the ceasefire agreement, making direct conflict impossible for the moment, though this would not last forever. More important was the need to buy time. The Alliance military was in complete disarray in 2172. Much of its leadership had to resign as a result of involvement in the threatened coup attempts against the Gasperi Administration. The Army and Navy had excellent equipment, but in terms of numbers and pound-for-pound firepower, they were in no shape to fight the batarians in open warfare. Much of the time between 2172 and 2176 was taken up with constructing fleets and armies capable of taking the fight to the enemies of humanity.

Gathering allies was also a priority for the new government. The most notable result was the Treaty of Rayya, a huge leap forward in human-quarian relations. Quarian technical capability greatly aided the human armament efforts after 2173, and would play a crucial role in the coming battle. The Alliance also signed a financial compact with the Vol Protectorate, allowing volus investors an interest in the semi-state defence and colonial companies in return for funding. This provided for even greater expansion of the military than would otherwise have been possible. Meanwhile, confidence in the Big Three Citadel species had been destroyed when they had refused to aid the Alliance counterattack in the aftermath of Mindoir. Human leadership nonetheless tried to improve relations. They failed to secure direct military assistance against the batarians either for a regime change or for the immediate defence of colonies in the Verge. However, year-on-year agreements for transit of Alliance military forces through Citadel space were reached, and would prove decisive for both the Battle of Elysium and the counterattack to come afterwards. In addition to these new alliances and treaties, human intelligence services began cultivating links to various batarian dissident and separatist groups. These were numerous and diverse in nature, from disgruntled ex-military officers forced out by the change in government to religious fundamentalists who viewed the Hegemony as the incarnation of evil in the galaxy. All would prove useful in the coming battle and beyond.

By the end of 2174, the Mercenary War was warming up and the Turian Hierarchy had its fill of playing the barrier between the two sides. The primarchs ordered the withdrawal of their forces, as human successes against the pirates on the defensive became more frequent. Human expansion continued at pace even without the protection of turian peacekeeping fleets, and Elysium's population saw a swell. With the humans looking like they might turn the tide, the batarians began providing direct assistance to the pirates. Old ships were refitted and sold on the cheap, and fanatical "volunteer" squadrons were formed.

All over the Verge, terror attacks and insane frontal assaults against Alliance Navy pickets were launched. Kamikaze attacks by torpedo-carrying fighters, piloted by batarian extremists, became a favourite tactic against the far better armed Alliance ships. In 2175, this paid a handsome dividend. The Alliance fleet carrier SSV Amaterasu was on patrol duty with her cruiser escorts, when it was attacked by a combined batarian-pirate force of a similar size. The carrier group should have been more than capable of driving off the enemy, but the Amaterasu was attacked immediately by fighters dropping out of FTL travel behind the cruiser pickets. While the carrier's point defences destroyed most of the fighters, two managed to crash into the launch sections. The munitions and fuel of the Alliance fighters were set off in a chain reaction by the attack, and the Amaterasu's shields failed. The order to abandon ship was given mere minutes into the battle, as the enemy ships concentrated their fire on the crippled vessel.

The destruction of Amaterasu was significant to the Battle of Elysium in two ways. Firstly, it boosted the already exaggerated confidence of Batarian High Command to the point of belief of divinity in their cause. The powers-that-be were on their side, and nothing could stop them from conquering the Verge from the humans. It was this that allowed Elanos Haliat's proposal to seize a major human colony to be taken seriously. The ship's loss also set off yet another political crisis in the Alliance, with questions asked in parliament and demands for another declaration of war laid down by the hardliners. While the new administration was able to resist this pressure, it also meant that any major batarian attack absolutely had to be detected beforehand, and if possible, reversed into a complete defeat for the invading forces. Planning and preparation for just such a battle began long before word of the attack reached Alliance ears, and was to be entirely vindicated.


	10. ELYSIUM: The Leaders

THE LEADERS:

**Nozomi Taro, ****太郎 望実****, **_"The Tiger", Consul of the Systems Alliance_

Nozomi Taro took the oath of the Consul of the Sword in September 2172, after leading the Labour Party to its first electoral victory. Before her Alliance career, she had served as the Japanese Defence and Colonial Affairs Minister, a job she handled extremely well by all accounts. As of the end of the Reaper War, she is the only human consul thus far to hail from a small nation of Earth. Her stature in the history of the galaxy is one equally of infamy and legend. Her anger and hatred towards the batarians for their actions is famous for its intensity. Initially overshadowed by her predecessor, Anka Gasperi, and the huge achievements of humanity under the previous administration, Taro faced a huge challenge from that political angle alone when she came to power. These problems were compounded by the fallout from Mindoir, which had still not been resolved almost two years after the attack. Consumer confidence, military capability, colonial investments, and the morale of the people had continued into a slump for that time. Taro pledged to reverse these trends, and her promises were to be kept. Her success would be attributed to what some would call a Machiavellian doctrine of political action.

As her predecessor was known for compassion, Taro would be known for complete ruthlessness, both politically and militarily. Every action was calculated for effect, and she regarded resistance as close to treason. She would avoid most of the negative aspects of this reputation through small measures of reassurance. Taro spoke with energy and passion in public, and always wore traditional Japanese dress. This behaviour granted her celebrity status even before she was elected to the Alliance parliament, and she was likened to a mother tiger protecting her cubs. The nickname came about and stuck, and the consul embraced it by placing the extinct Siberian Tiger on her personal military standard.

Her co-consul was Franco Nivash, who had the unflattering nickname of "The Snake". Nivash was an ex-union organiser and EU High Commissioner for Offworld Economic Development. He was devoted to Taro's cause, but unpopular. His skills and contacts were of great use to the administration as the political fights to change the Alliance began. Opposition from within the political left was suppressed with ease by Nivash's cohorts, giving Taro the breathing space required to bring her radical agenda to realisation. Opposition from the right was strangled with wildcat strikes and occupations by workers against companies that backed it, though these were rare, as most of the policies brought in by the new government were easily justified by national security concerns.

Consul Taro's first step was to counteract the batarians preference for proxies and mercenaries. The Alliance started a major pirate suppression campaign within a month of her taking office, and pirates that fled outside of Alliance jurisdiction were met with privateers and mercenaries, as well as ships under the new "Corsair" programme. This policy was extremely controversial within the ranks of her own party, as most opposed the use of private military contractors and sought to ban them outright. These complaints were ignored, the ability to attack the pirates outside of Alliance jurisdiction was considered too valuable to be abandoned for ideological satisfaction.

Another concern was the division within humanity itself. The Alliance was seen as a necessary evil at best to most citizens, even as it stood as their protector. The human "identity" did not generally exist, save for colonies and outposts with heavy alien contact. Consul Taro saw this as a critical political weakness, and she acted to turn the situation into a strength. She proclaimed that humanity was a single nation, and moved to make her declaration a reality. A number of measures were taken to increase loyalty to the Alliance itself. It was given a flag, the golden eagle was made the official animal, the consuls were given personal banners, and a system for honouring both citizens and colonies was created, with the "Star of Terra" at the top as the highest award for bravery or service. In 2175, "_The Battlecry of Freedom_" was given new lyrics, and sung at the annual opening of parliament as humanity's anthem, reflecting their disdain for batarian slavery and their resolve to destroy it.

Taro knew that war was coming. The largest military spending packages ever proposed by the Alliance were passed by huge majorities in parliament, funded by new colonial taxes and loans from the Volus. Not one aspect of the Alliance military was to be left untouched. New ship classes of every type were designed, laid down and launched. Army equipment was upgraded, and the principle of every Alliance soldier having a personal kinetic barrier system was instituted. The "Eight Fleets and Fifty Legions" programme between 2172 and 2176 caused ship and troop numbers to nearly double under Taro's leadership.

All of these measures were popular, but the cost to the human economy was increasingly deemed excessive. This became more galling to the public as more time went on without war breaking out. With the destruction of the SSV Amaterasu, this anxiety turned into anger when Taro refused to declare war, stating that the Alliance was not ready for war yet. The name of the ship was an irony not lost upon the consul, and she knew that she had to wait for the latest ships to be launched in sufficient numbers for a counterattack to work. A vote of confidence was called against both of humanity's leaders. The attempt was barely defeated. Hardliners within Taro's own party, of which there were many, were reassured that a war would be declared within the lifetime of the government. The opposition was threatened in a number of ways, particularly with regard to messy assets investigations of their corporate backers. Alice Dennison, the leader of the opposition, ordered her party to back off.

With her position weakening, Taro knew that the final phase had to be pushed forwards. Planning for total war began in secret, and the necessary intelligence work was carried out. Any major batarian attack was to be met with a swift counterattack against a major colony. The consul would have preferred to attack first, but she assumed that the Citadel Council stood in the way of such a move. Luckily, it was soon clear that a batarian invasion of Elysium was under preparation. The enemy was coming, and the Tiger was ready for him.

* * *

**Kesrak Ar'dra,** _Arch-Hegemon of the Batarian Hegemony._

The leadership of the Hegemony passed to Ar'dra in 2171, in the aftermath of his successful plot to enslave the people of Mindoir. Thousands became his personal slaves, and were paraded yearly on Khar'shan as a continual reminder of his success and good fortune. These unfortunate souls would be joined by others, taken from smaller colonies and outposts in lightning raids across the Verge. Ar'dra took particular pleasure in the chaos he had unleashed within humanity's political system and society, as they remained unable to retaliate further with the turians in the way. However, he did not forget the nuclear annihilation of the three batarian colonies in the aftermath of his glorious victory, and he did not forgive. More than ever, he believed that providence was on his side, and that the batarian species was on the ascendant.

It was Ar'dra who had hatched the scheme to force the Citadel Council to declare the Skyllian Verge as a zone of batarian interest. The turians' presence was reluctant at best, and with no permanent settlement of the conflict over the region on the table, the new hegemon looked to capitalise on the vacuum. He regarded the Citadel Council as aloof or even stupid, cowardly dupes that would do his bidding because they lacked the backbone for warfare. This assessment was entirely off the mark. The salarians soon learned of his true purpose; to use the Verge as a jumping off point for the subjugation of humanity. The request was denied, and Ar'dra was sent into a spiraling rage. He withdrew diplomatic ties with the Citadel, against the advice of the vice-hegemons and against the interests of his people.

Opposition within batarian space steadily grew, and in response, the hegemon turned to more oppression. In 2172, around the same time that humanity was voting for its next leaders, Ar'dra declared himself Arch-Hegemon, dissolving the Council of Greaters. Colonies were to be ruled by governors that he appointed himself, and Khar'shan was to become his personal fief. The loyal vice-hegemons were reappointed to the planets they had ruled before, while the rest were purged without mercy. Similar purges were conducted in the castes and the military, particularly hitting the batarian naval command ranks, which had never been loyal to him personally. Many of his opponents and the subordinates of purged officers escaped to the Terminus Systems, ending up in independent colonies at best or joining criminal gangs or mercenary companies at worst. By 2176, nearly thirty million batarians left Hegemony space to escape the regime, and many more wished to.

Ar'dra began to rely on a select group of commanders and pirates that he had confidence in. Among these was General Gadnalak, the victor of Mindoir, and Elanos Haliat, the turian who would plan and lead the attack on Elysium. This group coordinated and planned the terror campaigns against humanity, which met with enough success to bolster the newly minted Arch-Hegemon's ambitions. A turning point came when news of the destruction of the SSV Amaterasu arrived on Khar'shan. The result of a carefully planned strategy of both Haliat and Gadnalak, Ar'dra began to believe that the time had come for another major attack. The turians were withdrawing, and another great victory would secure his rule forever.

Gadnalak attempted to stall his leader, aware as he was of the changes that humanity had been making. He warned Ar'dra that the Alliance they would face was an entirely different beast to the creature they had faced in 2170. Haliat, an ambitious person at the best of times, argued the opposite, that the Hegemony was never stronger. The batarian fleet was the largest it had ever been, and their ties with the Terminus Systems provided resources that the humans couldn't match. Or so the argument went. It was exactly what the Arch-Hegemon wanted to hear, and he ordered Haliat to begin preparations for an invasion. Reluctantly, Gadnalak gave in to the will of his overlord, and pledged his own External Forces to the attack. Ar'dra would have his attempt at glory once again.


	11. ELYSIUM: Strategy

STRATEGY FOR OFFENCE

Unlike Mindoir, the overall objective of the batarians in 2176 was to seize the colony at Elysium permanently and start the war that both sides had been preparing for years. This was a major undertaking in comparison to the raiding operations that had been the mainstay of the conflict until this point. It would require sustained naval operations, in which the Systems Alliance would arguably have an advantage. Supply lines from batarian space would also have to be both secure and well organised, presenting new challenges to a military used to being able to carry all it needed for lightning attacks rather than relying on resupply. Military forces and colonial administration would need to be transplanted onto the planet immediately to press batarian law upon the populace, the manpower for which would be considerable. The batarians alone most likely could not have fulfilled these requirements. They were not alone, however. A coalition of Terminus pirates and mercenary companies stood ready to assist them, under the leadership of Elanos Haliat. It was he who would plan and bring to realisation the attack on Elysium.

Haliat's proposed conditions for a victory were threefold. The first was that the Alliance ground forces would need to be annihilated or captured. He came to the conclusion that human forces would rather fight to the death than surrender, but that civilians and militia would likely not possess the same resolve. Furthermore, he believed that any surrender would only ever be partial, and that a highly organised guerrilla campaign could render the planet useless as either a staging ground or an economic hub. Large numbers of troops would be needed to prevent this outcome, and elite forces would be required to deal with the Alliance garrison.

The second condition was that the Alliance Navy would have to be defeated as soon as they arrived to relieve the planet. Human military doctrine demanded a swift counterattack to reclaim any lost colony, and so the assault force would have to possess significant naval assets to protect the ground troops and supply lines. Elysium was not the only planet in the Vetus System requiring the attention of the assault forces either. Sidon was known to be inhabited, as were a number of asteroid stations and the fuel depots orbiting Joppa. They would need to be bombarded or captured Only the batarians could provide the ships for these purposes, as the pirates' own ships had proven to be less than a match for the Alliance Navy's own vessels in open-ended engagements.

The last condition was that imposing order on the colony would have to be swift and merciless. Unlike most colonies in the Verge, the people of Elysium were not used to being under the constant threat of attack. While this might allow an easier initial conquest, any permanent occupation would face ever increasing resistance. This would be exacerbated by the numerous Alliance arms dumps that undoubtedly existed all over the planet. Elysium was also a popular retirement destination for Alliance veterans. All of this meant that suppressing resistance would be far more difficult than what the batarians had experience of before, as even if the Alliance forces were defeated, the civilians themselves would have both the means and the capability to fight on their own. Avoiding a lengthy assymetric conflict by breaking the populace's will to fight would be an absolute necessity.

With these requirements in mind, Haliat laid out his plan to the Arch-Hegemon about two weeks after the destruction of the SSV Amaterasu.

It would begin with the joint batarian and pirate fleets entering the Vetus system in full force. Their initial objectives would be the colony's extensive orbital defences and the fuel stations. The latter were particularly important if the system was to be used to resupply batarian strikes into Alliance space after the invasion. Their attention would then be turned towards guarding the mass relays against the Alliance counterattack. FTL comms to the rest of the galaxy were to be cut immediately. For this, the Batarian Hegemony would provide its First and Second Fleets, which contained the most modern ships of all classes. These would be augmented with flotillas from thirteen independent Terminus colonies, six of which answered directly to Haliat. Overall command of these forces was placed in the hands of Dhark Ar'dra, the Arch-Hegemon's cousin and the same man who had commanded the batarian navy at Mindoir with great competence. In addition, thousands of civilian transports were requisitioned for use as troop transports and cargo haulers. It was to be the largest fleet ever assembled by the batarians for a single operation.

The next phase was the invasion of Elysium itself.

The plan reflected turian military thinking far more than batarian strategic ideology. Some of the lessons of Mindoir were applied directly. The elite External Forces and the best Terminus mercenaries were to be deployed first to bracket the Alliance forces inside their bases. These pockets would then be destroyed from orbit with towed asteroids and deorbited space stations as the rest of the troops were disembarked. This was insisted upon by General Gadnalak, pointing out his failure to break the Alliance strongholds on Mindoir. Haliat was happy to agree to the terms. He understood that any human forces that survived would cause continuing problems, and every hour that passed without their destruction would give hope to the populace for their rescue. The terrain of Elysium was also alpine, very disadvantageous for any assault against the mountain fortresses that the Alliance had built. Cutting the human soldiers off from their civilians was the objective.

In line with turian doctrine, the cities were to be pacified by force. The population was to be given a stark choice, surrender or die. Those that chose surrender were to be moved to safe zones on the outskirts, to remove them from the battlefield and begin the process of enslavement. Those that refused to be moved to a safe zone were to be killed. Batarian regulars were to go street-to-street, door-to-door to accomplish this task. Given the large population of Elysium as well as the inevitable presence of militia and police forces, millions of troops would be needed. Losses were expected to be minimal in this part of the operation. Even with the use of far less competent troops, the sheer numbers deployed were expected to be able to overwhelm any defence the citizens themselves could mount. This part of Haliat's strategy also reflected the demographic nature of Elysium. There were many non-humans on the colony, and he was counting on their lack of will to fight the humans' battle to encourage surrender.

With the system secure, hopefully including its supply and logistics infrastructure intact, the front role would return to the batarian navy. Haliat viewed an Alliance counterattack as a certainty, an accurate reading of the human attitude to aggression if ever there was one. With Elysium in his hands, he expected that he could ambush any force that the Alliance could bring to bear quickly and that he could cut their supply lines using his massive flotillas of pirate vessels. He calculated that the Alliance fleets would not gather fast enough to overwhelm his own before the general conflict started, leaving him in control of the system and in an excellent position to continue offensive actions through the rest of the Verge.

Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra was very pleased with the plan once its final form had been presented to him, and congratulated his turian ally on the grandiose nature of the operation. He considered it entirely worthy of being entered into the immortal annals of history. As it turned out, this was indeed the case, but not for the reasons either Ar'dra or Haliat thought.

* * *

STRATEGY FOR DEFENCE

Alliance military strategy underwent a transformation with the arrival of a new government. The 2173 White Paper on Defence and Colonial Affairs outlined a radical departure from the defensive and diplomatic thinking of the past decade and a half. The lessons of Mindoir had been hard militarily as well as politically. Defence spending in proportion to current holdings was abandoned as a concept. Expansion had outstripped the ability of the Alliance to defend its territory for a decade by that point. This was seen as tolerable previously by many in the Alliance, whom believed that the Citadel Council would intervene in any major conflict to protect its own economic interests. This notion was completely obliterated by Mindoir and the First Verge War. Not only did the Council not aid the Alliance in its time of need, but they forced humanity to sign an unacceptable treaty with the batarians, a treaty that was promptly broken.

Before 2173, the Alliance maintained a minimum deterrence strategy and a no-first-strike policy, whereby it would build and maintain both conventional forces and WMDs in numbers just sufficient enough to put off potential aggressors. Under Taro, this was scrapped as a complete failure, as the strength of the Alliance had spectacularly failed to deter the batarians. The policy was replaced by "massive retaliation". Humanity committed to respond to any open aggression with an overwhelming, disproportionate response. As such, both conventional forces and WMD programmes were expanded. Humanity's military capability was to be brought up to a standard capable of effectively deterring any potential foe, including the Citadel species. The consequences of this change would reach far beyond the conflict with the batarians, and arguably was a key factor in the survival of the entire galaxy during the course of the Reaper War. However, at the time, the decision was extremely controversial and threatened to derail human relations with the Citadel.

Elysium was not immune from these trends, and from 2173 onwards, the so-called Jewel of the Skyllian Verge prepared its defences in depth with generous funding from the Alliance Parliament. They included deep-space stations, asteroid bases, reinforced mountain complexes, and advanced ground-to-space defences. Many of these preparations were conducted under the guise of civilian projects, concealing them from the greater galaxy's eyes. This detail was a necessity, as a quarter of Elysium's population was non-human.

In addition to the change in military doctrine and the increase in defence spending, Consul Taro greatly expanded the scope and resources of the Alliance intelligence services. The Army and Navy intelligence services were merged into the Defence Intelligence Directorate, or DID, and set to work against the batarians and their pirate allies. Particular attention was given to recruiting dissident batarians in exile from Hegemony space, as well as infiltration of the criminal underworld of the Terminus Systems. Signals intelligence was also made a priority, and by 2175, the DID had extensive networks of both agents and listening posts. These would pay handsome dividends.

Elanos Haliat's plan of attack was leaked to the Alliance almost as soon as it had been finalised. At first, the DID believed their agents had been compromised. The scale of the proposed attack amounted to the first blow of total war, a conflict that the Hegemony could not possibly win. However, when message interceptions and reports of troop movements came in, the reality of the situation could no longer be ignored. The news was reported directly to the Consuls to avoid notifying the batarians that their plan had been discovered. We are told that the leaders of humanity received the news with calm resolve. The war that Taro had been waiting for was about to arrive.

Alliance High Command put forth a plan for a pre-emptive strike on the batarian staging areas, with the Navy entering the systems in question from multiple relays and then going on the attack. Consul Taro strongly opposed the idea. She believed the batarians would simply retreat through the relays to their more heavily defended core regions, and the war would devolve into one of attrition. Furthermore, it would fail to inflict the sorts of losses that would scare off the Citadel from intervening. Nothing short of a comprehensive defeat of all forces committed to the attack would accomplish Taro's political and military goals. If she was going to establish humanity's place at the top table of galactic politics, not to mention win the approaching 2177 general election, she would need just that.

The Consul ordered that a new plan be drawn up to trap the batarian and pirate forces. The operation that Alliance High Command came up with was perhaps even more ambitious than the one the batarians planned to put in motion.

Firstly, the batarians would be encouraged to believe their plan was going almost perfectly. The combined Terminus-Hegemony fleet would be allowed to enter the Vetus System entirely unopposed in space. To prevent their use by the enemy, the fuel depots orbiting Joppa would be sabotaged along with those in neighbouring star systems. Furthermore, the full measure of enemy ground forces were to be allowed to land on Elysium itself. In effect, the plan called for giving the batarians the illusion that they were pulling off a spectacular coup, while positioning as many of their available forces as possible right into the jaws of a huge strategic ambush. The plan would rely on the defenders of Elysium holding out long enough for the Alliance to spring the trap, but there was high confidence that the batarians would land as many troops as quickly as they could. It was calculated that the defences would only need to hold out for twenty four hours before reinforcements could arrive. To assure that they would hold, a front line Alliance Army task force would be sent to defend the planet, disguised as a regular transfer in the garrison rotation.

Once the batarians were committed, the counterattack would begin. Four Alliance fleets, fully half the available naval power of humanity, would be committed to the campaign. Three of these would attack directly from Alliance space, using relays that the batarians would be sure to guard. The fourth would skirt around the Verge through salarian-held space, and then break into the batarian rear via their own supply lines. The enemy fleets would be trapped in the Petra Nebula, and attacked continuously until they were destroyed. In addition to this, a single legion of the Alliance Army would be dropped by assault titan onto Elysium, which would then go on the offensive against all batarian and mercenary forces. Once the assault had been utterly crushed, the Alliance would begin offensive operations against the unprotected staging areas and would seize them as forward operating bases.


	12. ELYSIUM: The Commanders

THE COMMANDERS

**Colonel-General Leon Orzeski**_, Commanding Officer, Task Force Wizna, V Legion, Vetus System Garrison._

A native of Poland, Orzeski's first combat experience was in the desert guerrilla war of the Sahara Insurgency, in which the armed forces of the European Union sought to defend its newest member states on the North African coast from armed anti-federal extremists. Records of his service in this war remain classified even nearly seventy years after the events. The war was not a clean one by any standards, particularly as the growing climate crisis threatened European prosperity and survival.

At the outbreak of the Cold War in 2139, Orzeski was a captain in the Polish-led Wizna Battlegroup. His actions in that war are far better documented, and he served with distinction as his unit was gradually expanded to the size of a full task force of over one hundred thousand citizens-at-arms by the end of the war. He fought in every major campaign of the European theatre from Minsk to Suez to Leipzig, as did his unit. By the time victory came in 2145, he had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel.

Orzeski was a poor peacetime soldier, particularly after the foundation of the Alliance. He regarded the cooperation of the nations of Earth with suspicion, thinking that Europe and Africa ought to exploit the new mass effect technologies on their own. This can largely be attributed to his war experience, in which he would have seen many atrocities. He had seen the war in the Americas as a sideshow, largely as the climate conditions meant that very few froze or starved to death in that theatre of the conflict. He was reluctantly transferred to international command with the foundation of the Alliance as one of Europe's contributions to the united human military. Despite his reservations, he determined to defend his homeworld, and by the time of contact with the turians, he had reached the rank of colonel.

The First Contact War cured him of any lingering doubts about his fellow humans, as he saw first-hand the need to unite the species during the Liberation of Shan'xi. His regiment was at the very centre of the offensive to surround the turian occupation force in the colonial capital at New Weinan. His role in that assault as part of a combined effort by Task Force Wizna and elements from the South American Federation saw him promoted, a trend that would continue. He demonstrated a methodical, almost mathematical style of command that determined to wear enemies down before a killing blow. Against the pirates and early batarian attacks of the 2160s, his success rate was nearly perfect and he challenged even the most competent turian commanders during a series of wargames organised in 2173. It was this latter achievement that caught the eye of Alliance High Command and Consul Taro approved his promotion to command of the unit he had served in all of his military life.

By 2176, Orzeski was considering retirement, nearing forty years of military service, but was selected to lead the initial defence of Elysium as part of the grand trap for the batarians. His reaction to this was enthusiastic. The chance to personally avenge Mindoir was one he considered a deep honour, and he set about immediately organising the Alliance forces in the Vetus System in great detail. The already considerable defences of Elysium were bolstered by his arrival, and the "_generaloberst_" set about planning to lure batarian forces on the ground into ambushes using both cities and Alliance bases as bait. Without the presence of Orzeski and his troops, it is doubtful that Elysium could have held out the twenty four hours required by the Alliance to muster their fleets, and he would prove this decisively in the course of the battle itself.

* * *

**Elanos Haliat**_, Chief Commander, Batarian-Terminus Invasion Forces, Overlord of Altakiril._

A former professional soldier from Palaven, Elanos Haliat was once regarded as a good prospect for promotion to the highest levels of citizenship in the Turian Hierarchy. His skill for realpolitik was matched by both his ambition and competence, coloured by an ability to get others to take on risks for him. It was the latter that would eventually force him out of respectable turian society, as his orders caused the deaths of a series of well-placed lieutenants during a minor uprising of colonial separatists in 2162. Unable to advance further, and becoming frustrated with the rigid society of Palaven, he fled to the Terminus Systems, ending up on the highly independent and chaotic world of Altakiril. Within three years of his arrival, he had managed to take control of that planet and surrounding systems through a mix of guile and naked force that came to characterise his rule.

Haliat recruited heavily from exiled and independent turian populations and batarian criminal groups, eventually claiming lordship over six Terminus garden worlds and claiming seven more as allies. This made him the most powerful individual in the Terminus Systems, eclipsing even Aria T'Loak in terms of hard power, a position he guarded jealously with an ever expanding fleet of ships and large mercenary companies. It was the need to maintain this power via raiding that pushed him to greater cooperation with the Batarian Hegemony.

While Haliat raided the Traverse on an almost yearly basis, the Council species were increasingly more difficult to catch unaware, leading to a drop off in revenues that threatened to collapse his fiefdoms. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, humanity soon entered the scene with a frantic colonisation drive that left them vulnerable to just the sort of raiding that he specialised in. By the time of the batarian attack on Mindoir, Haliat was trusted at the highest levels of the Hegemony's government, particularly within the faction of the soon-to-be Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra.

Between 2170 and 2176, his prestige and status both with the Terminus pirate barons and the Batarian Hegemony reached their peak. Still not satisfied, Haliat set about looking for a way to make himself a true galactic leader. When the SSV Amaterasu was destroyed by a gambit of his own making, the turian found his chance. His proposal to attack Elysium as the opening blow of a war to end humanity's independence was crafted perfectly to infect the mind of the Arch-Hegemon. General Gadnalak would later remark that he regretted not following his instincts to shoot the turian when they had first met, so adept was Haliat at manipulating the leader of the batarian species. Had he done so, much would have been different.

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Haliat was meant to be a turian in the games. The mission where you encounter him makes that fairly obvious: he speaks like a turian and has a targeting visor like Garrus' own. Not sure why he shows up as human, but I decided to correct this for the story._


	13. ELYSIUM: The Opposing Forces

THE OPPOSING FORCES

_THE SYSTEMS ALLIANCE_

_**Task Force Wizna, Legio V Europa**_

Elysium was a free colony, one of the few in existence at the time of the Verge Conflict. It owed its allegiance to the Systems Alliance alone. As such, the colony was permanently garrisoned by an Alliance Army task force of one hundred thousand troops, the origins of which rotated according to availability of troops. In the year leading up to the attack, Elysium was defended by Task Force Sherman of the 18th Legion, a competent but relatively untested formation that maintained the colony's defences well. Either by luck or design, the batarian attack was due to take place mere weeks after the next garrison change. It has been suggested that Haliat intended to catch the new garrison troops offguard before they were familiar with the terrain of the colony, but no solid evidence of this has been found. As it was Europe's turn to provide the ground forces for the defence of the colony, the Fifth Legion was selected for the counterattack against the batarians. Task Force Wizna was to lead the initial defence, and was to be the lynchpin of the entire Alliance plan.

In 2176, Wizna was organised into ten divisions, consisting of four armoured divisions, five mechanised infantry divisions and an orbital assault division. Its soldiers were from EU colony worlds with large Polish populations, and continued the proud military traditions of its constituent units. Morale was high, and the sense of élan rose once the soldiers were informed of their mission. Of all the professional forces marshalled for the defence of Elysium, only the soldiers of Wizna were told of their true purpose before fighting commenced. All others would mobilise and go to battle under the impression that they were drilling until the last possible moment. The awareness that they had what amounted to a sacred duty would lend itself to an attitude of extreme determination among the troops. Alliance High Command and the Consuls planned as much, as they knew the numbers against Wizna and its supporting forces would be utterly massive.

The rest of the Fifth Legion's combat units would be landed in increments as soon as the Navy arrived, two task forces at a time. These would be deployed where they were required most, and the enemy would be progressively surrounded after they were pushed away from the cities and into the wilderness, where local irregular forces would be lying in wait for them.

_**Colonial Defence Forces Elysium (CDF)**_

In addition to the Alliance professional forces garrisoned on Elysium, the colony had also raised some armed forces of its own. In terms of ground troops, these were recruited under the guise of Alliance Army reserve units and armed police forces, as required by Alliance law. Reservists were sent back to Earth for basic training, given two weeks leave to explore their ancestral home and then returned for garrison duty, making service quite popular for young Elysians, who flocked for a free trip to the homeworld. There were millions of these potential combatants, though exactly how many is not known. The best of them were the security forces' armed response units and the veteran reservists whom had retired from the Army but were still bound by their oaths. However, most were weekend soldiers, or police officers whom did not carry lethal weapons for the majority of their duties. Morale in these forces was considerably worse than among the professional troops, as batarian sabre-rattling had terrorised most of the border colonies for years after Mindoir, but most expected the Alliance to do the heavy lifting for the defence of the colony anyway.

Alliance High Command expected that if the fighting lasted longer than a day, these forces were likely to break in the absence of Army command authority. In retrospect, this seems like a harsh evaluation, but the memories of Mindoir and the paramilitaries slaughtered before they could reach Alliance lines coloured all considerations. As such, these "troops" were assigned to shepherding civilians away from the fighting and maintaining the interior lines between areas of combat to keep logistics safe from attack.

Alongside the colonial ground forces, Elysium had also had a sizeable number of torpedo-corvettes, numerous fighter squadrons and a dozen orbital monitor ships for the defence of their space. There remains some controversy over their role in the battle. The Alliance could not afford to allow anything to seem out of place where the defences of Elysium were concerned, and the colony's own flotillas were not informed of the batarian attack plans under they were already well under way. Regardless, they were to play a crucial role in the early part of the battle. Their effectiveness was noted, and the Alliance itself would begin a corvette privateer programme after the battle, under the name "Corsairs", to harrass Terminus shipping to the Kite's Nest.

_**Combined Battle Fleet Hiryū**_

For the relief of the colony from the batarian orbital siege, the Alliance committed its Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Fleets in a combined naval formation under the command of Admiral Ches Giáp. This was the Combined Battle Fleet Hiryu, and it would be tasked with breaching the batarian blockade flotillas by direct assault, relying on speed and force to shatter the enemy naval elements before they could concentrate to resist. It would then turn its attention to supporting the ground campaign, hunting down the retreating enemy, and eventually, seizing control of the enemy staging areas. While in orbit of Elysium, the naval task elements would fall under the supreme command of Orzeski.

It was the largest naval fleet ever assembled for a single operation by humanity until the Battle of the Kite's Nest two and a half years later. Alliance High Command committed ten of its twenty fleet carriers to the fight, as well as three dreadnoughts. However, the majority of the fighting was to be done by the cruisers and frigates, hundreds of which would fill the skies over Elysium. These would be organised into naval task forces with specific objectives drawn up to counteract specific parts of the batarian plan. Frigate wolfpacks would hunt down logistics vessels, troop transports and damaged ships. Cruisers would form up and push their designated enemy formations away from Elysium by closing to broadside or even knife-fight ranges, where local superiority of numbers would decimate them. The carriers and dreadnoughts would concentrate on their own counterparts, and the Alliance expected the batarians to field all six of its dreadnoughts for the battle.

In addition to the three fleets to directly assault the Vetus System itself, the Eighth Fleet would be dispatched through salarian space to cut off the batarians from behind their own relays. The Eighth Fleet did not yet possess its full complement of ships, consisting mostly of frigate wolfpacks around a core of cruiser patrol groups. Despite this, it would play a crucial role in the closing moments of the naval battle.

* * *

_THE BATARIAN-TERMINUS COALITION_

_**Batarian External Forces**_

The External Forces in 2176 were a very different beast to the one that had successfully attacked Mindoir almost six years previously. Drawing heavily on the lessons of that triumph, General Gadnalak had pushed a reform-heavy programme and changed almost every aspect of the force. The soldier's motivations were augmented by promises of social and economic advancement, service in the External Forces was now motivated by aspiration as much as ideology. Equipment standards, particularly in small arms and infantry fighting vehicles, were raised considerably. Indirect action and battlefield adaptability were added to the sparse toolbox of its commanders, joining the traditional mass shock assaults and terror tactics. Most of the changes would have been familiar to any human military officer; they were modelled directly on the Alliance military itself.

These changes did not come without a price however. Gadnalak had to plough through centuries of traditionalism, and even more resentment at his place in the military given his low origins. Records are incomplete as to how he dealt with his many detractors, but his proximity to the Arch-Hegemon makes it a safe guess that he had them destroyed politically. A purge of the lower ranks certainly followed, leaving only those loyal to the general. This did not cripple the formation, as the majority of those opposed were political postings in the first place. Those that remained were the hard core of professional soldiers, willing to live by the maxim that "it is proper to learn, even from one's enemies." For the campaign, almost the entirety of the External Forces field formations would be deployed, some one hundred and eighty thousand men. These would be the first batarian troops deployed to the ground, to be landed alongside Haliat's own mercenaries.

Unlike Mindoir, the External Forces would not take the lead role in the assault on Elysium. Their purpose was to deal exclusively with the Alliance Army bases that dotted the planet, and they were almost an afterthought in the endeavour. The fleets would do most of the heavy lifting in terms of destroying the Alliance strongpoints, with the elite ground formations only containing the enemy within. According to batarian rebel legend, this frustrated Gadnalak to the point of rage. His failure to take the pockets of resistance on Mindoir haunted him, and he sought another chance to fight the Alliance in honourable battle. This was compounded by the fact that Haliat was an alien, unworthy of the level of influence he wielded in the Hegemony no matter how competent he was. The General could do nothing however, Ar'dra considered Haliat to be extremely valuable to his ambitions. However, it is important to note that Gadnalak could not have changed the outcome regardless of whether or not he attacked the Alliance bases immediately. The humans had their own plans.

_**Batarian Army Verge Strategic Command**_

By far the largest ground formation of the Batarian Army, the three-and-a-half million soldiers of the Verge Strategic Command were not the best the galaxy had to offer. The vast majority were conscripts, young batarian males undertaking their national service. Although many did serve with pride in these circumstances, many more had plenty of other places they would have preferred to be. Unlike in the External Forces, where merit could make a competent soldier into a fast social climber, the Batarian Army enforced strict caste hierarchy within the ranks. Officers were selected from the noble classes, NCOs from the merchant classes, and enlisted troops were conscripted from the serf classes. Slaves, batarian or alien, could not enlist in the Batarian Army, and the main purpose of the force other than external defence was to put slave rebellions down with utmost brutality. This was a role they fulfilled with great zeal, and it formed an essential part of the glue that held batarian society together.

On Elysium, it was expected that this huge army would face similar resistance to that of a slave rebellion; badly armed civilians, albeit determined to fight for their freedom. As such, the army would be equipped to fight a disorganised enemy, both in terms of the equipment to be used and the mentality drilled into its soldiers. The worst the troops would have to face would be determined Alliance veterans or police forces, both of which could be overwhelmed with the blunt, massed assault tactics which conscript armies have used since time immemorial.

The Batarian Army was considerably less well equipped than the External Forces. The limited resources of the Hegemony meant that priorities had to be maintained, and as no aliens had access to batarian military sites, the elite got the best equipment. However, the army still possessed many effective weapons, even if they were outclassed individually. The force did have the potential to win the ground war and cause huge casualties if not opposed correctly. Some of Gadnalak's reforms had effects beyond his own unit, and modern small arms were mass-produced by the Batarian State Arms factories for the entire batarian military. Many of these were copies of human weapons.

_**Terminus Mercenary Army**_

Elanos Haliat, knowing that the operation against Elysium was his great gamble, opted to go all-in to assure its success. For the ground war, he had no shortage of volunteers. With promises of fortune and glory, he managed to raise a little over three hundred thousand troops for the campaign against the humans. These were varied in origin, but the majority were recruited from Haliat's own domains. He favoured turian recruits, as the military culture of his people created a natural sort of discipline in their ranks. However, among the forces mustered, there were asari biotics, krogan platoons, vorcha packs and salarian engineers. These were tasked for special duties, for cracking any particular nut that offended Haliat in the course of the battle. The rest would fight with the batarian army on the front line, bolstering assault forces where required.

The Terminus forces were as well equipped as the Batarian External Forces, perhaps even better equipped. The battle occurred just when personal kinetic barriers had started to become economical on a mass scale, and mercenaries had snapped up as many of them as possible for their own use. Custom weapons and armour were commonplace, lending a powerful variety of firepower to Haliat cause at the expense of some logistics problems.

Morale in these forces was good, though very few knew before the battle of the full scale of the operation they were about to take part in. The Alliance identified Haliat's forces as a weak point to strike, as the motivations of the soldiers were questionable. They were not true military forces, regardless of their equipment. This would show in the course of the battle.

_**Batarian First Fleet**_

The Batarian First Fleet was the pride and joy of both the leader and the people, overshadowing the two other fleets of the Batarian Navy in its reputation. Its traditions stemmed from the chaotic time when the batarians first entered the galactic community. The Krogan Rebellions were in full swing, and the batarians were forced to defend their space from sporadic krogan attacks across wide frontiers. The reality of the force in 2176 lived up to these heights to a large extent. The most modern batarian ships were assigned to the fleet, including the Fang of Khar'shan, the new flagship.

The fleet boasted two dreadnoughts and two carriers, as well as a large number of cruisers and frigates operating together in fleet "clusters" designed to counteract the human wolfpack system. The batarians had not responded in the same way as the other species of the galaxy to the arrival of the carrier onto the naval scene. Instead of constructing more large ships designed to handle fighters, the batarians simply equipped their cruisers with the capability to carry more of them. While this allowed them to compete with an Alliance fleet, it had distinct disadvantages. The first of these was that command and control of the fighter squadrons was decentralised, and so, disorganised. This was deliberate, as fighters were still a defensive weapon in batarian eyes. They still favoured the dreadnought as the primary weapon of pitched battle. The second of these was that the fighter had evolved from a short range weapon to one that could duel with cruisers, thanks to the development of the EXALT torpedo. This meant that recovery and rearming of fighters for combat became far more important than in previous centuries. Line cruisers could not effectively recover and rearm fighters in the course of battle, and the batarians had not developed an escort carrier class based on a cruiser hull. These disadvantages would prove extremely costly indeed.

The fleet was organised along more traditional batarian lines, and was larger than an Alliance fleet. A strict chain of command was in place, as batarian naval thinking dictated that the admiral was the only one allowed to make command decisions, that he was in a battle of wills with the enemy commander and required the absolute coordination of all his available forces. Individual initiative on the part of captains or even squadron commanders was suppressed. Admiral Dhark Ar'dra, the Arch-Hegemon's cousin, was a true believer in this idea. In a galaxy without the new human naval weaponry or effective ECM, he could have dominated any force in such a manner, but the new reality of naval combat would leave him and the First Fleet behind at Elysium.


	14. ELYSIUM: The Weapons

THE WEAPONS

_**M-8 Avenger**_

The most widely produced assault rifle in the galaxy in the pre-Reaper War era, the M-8 Avenger combined rugged versatility with reliability and relatively good accuracy. The weapon was developed in the early 2170s by the human consortium of Baur Arms, Voss Munitions and Kalashnikov Concern from the M-7 Lancer design of the First Contact War era. It was designed as the answer to the infantry wave tactics of the batarians, which humanity had encountered during the brief war after the Battle of Mindoir. Its effective function and use of thermal clips drew the attention of the galaxy. The design was licensed for export by Elkoss Combine, which sold it by the hundreds of millions to almost every military and police unit in Citadel space. Illegal copies found their way to mercenaries and pirates of all colours, and the Batarian government began churning out millions of examples to arm its huge conscript armies. By 2176, both the Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony were using the weapon as standard-issue, both manufacturing their own versions with minor differences. Pirate forces under Haliat's control also had many examples of the weapon.

Firing eight hundred and fifty rounds a minute with moderate recoil and accuracy drop off, the weapon can project forty rounds before a fresh heat sink is required and was compatible with every form of ammunition modification in existence at the time. This was a considerable upgrade from the previous designs that required their weapons to cool off after firing, which reduced rate of fire. The system also placed a greater logistical burden on the armies, but this was justified. With the increasing prevalence of thermal clip weapons on the battlefield and the ease of building the clips themselves, the weapon's tradeoff between performance and resource requirements was heavily weighted in the former's favour.

During the Battle of Elysium, the Avenger would perform admirably in the hands of all combatants, human, batarian and pirate. Its user friendly nature would enable the batarian conscripts to fight far more effectively against the far lower numbers of Alliance infantrymen than would have otherwise been possible. In the hands of the soldiers of Task Force Wizna, the weapon was truly to be feared, as the better coordinated human forces were capable of handling the massed charges the batarians favoured as well as effectively suppressing mercenary attacks.

* * *

**Alliance: Rorsch Kz73**

The Rorsch Kz73 was an anti-aircraft weapon emplacement, consisting of a dual-barrel mass-accelerator system and a guided missile system. Based on the pre-mass effect Kz27, the weapon design had been resurrected and updated in the aftermath of Mindoir. It was decided that reliance on fighters alone to provide AA cover was insufficient for colonial defence, not to mention expensive for colonial taxpayers. When the Alliance held a design competition to create a cheap, effective anti-aircraft weapon that could be deployed on the ground or mounted on light vehicles, Rorsch won with their Kz73.

Its primary armament consists of two mass-accelerators following the railgun design found in both the Rorsch anti-material rifle series and the Mk8 anti-tank railgun emplacement, modified for more rapid fire and capable of shooting both proximity fused AA rounds and tungsten armour piercing rounds. Combined with a long range EMP missile system and a sophisticated target acquisition suite, the weapon shreds shuttles, gunships and even fighters provided they are travelling low enough to acquire. It was also used against enemy infantry to horrific effect on many battlefields.

The weapon would be deployed in significant numbers on Elysium, particularly around the major cities and the Alliance bases. The batarians' ability to land troops near these locations would be severely curtailed, pushing them to disembark only in areas where the Alliance forces were waiting for them. Although very few were involved in the majority of the fighting on the colony itself, its presence in numbers dicatated where the battle was fought and those that did see combat were a key piece in the Alliance victory to come. The approaches to landing zones would become hunting grounds for the gunners of the Kz73, causing huge casualties to the batarians before they could fight back.

* * *

**Alliance: Combat Drones**

Another lesson learned from the devastating raid on Mindoir was the utility of combat drones to help tip the odds against superior numbers. While most species embraced the drone as a key piece of military hardware, none embraced the technology more enthusiastically than humanity. As human law distinguished clearly between police and military, and with military service in all forms encompassing just 3% of the total human population, the Alliance needed effective ways to overcome the numerical advantage that any enemy would have in ground fighting. Ever more effective combat drones were the answer, and by 2176, every Alliance Army squad would have a flock of three drones with them. Command and control was strictly in the hands of the human operator and autonomous action severely limited, both measures due to fears of AIs.

The most common drones were equipped with anti-grav propulsion, an advanced sensor suite and either a machinegun or a rocket launcher. With the development of cost-effective personal kinetic barriers, they also had shielding, allowing them to take on the riskiest roles and freeing up the organic members of their squads to deliver the decisive blows. They excelled in a defensive setting, as dozens of drones were linked to squadrons and allowed bases to be defended with a mere fraction of the personnel that would have otherwise been required. This was key to the deception that Orzeski wished to play on the batarians, an idea taken straight from the playbook of General de Santos.

On Elysium, combat drones would go a long way towards compensating for batarian numbers, as well as adding much needed mobile firepower to infantry units that might not otherwise have had it. The batarians' deficiency in AI/VI technology would show, as they found themselves unable to hack their opponents' drones. Many conscripts would die to the weapons. Even more would die at the hands of their controllers, as the robotic fighters sowed chaos in the ranks that was easily exploited.

* * *

**Alliance: Mk7 Disruptor Torpedo**

The Mark 7 Disruptor Torpedo is an anti-ship weapon used by the ships and fighters of the Systems Alliance Navy, deployed using the Extremely Advanced Long-range Torpedo (EXALT) launcher system. It represented the next generation of torpedo technology in 2176, encompassing several improvements on previous torpedo designs. Unlike previous designs, it had two subclasses; a single warhead design for use against large, heavily shielded targets, and a multiple independent vehicle design for use against numerous smaller vessels or larger ships with more capable point defence weaponry. Both would close to range with their targets and create large unstable mass effect fields, ripping enemy hulls with gravitational forces and disrupting enemy kinetic barriers.

Like all EXALT weapons, the Mark 7 is a multi-stage device. First, the torpedo would be propelled from its mothership by a specialised mass-accelerator, an innovation that humanity brought onto the galactic stage during the First Contact War. This provides a huge boost to the range at which the torpedo could be deployed, turning what was previously a knife-fight distance weapon into one that could match the range of cruiser guns. Once at a safe distance, the torpedo's own thrusters fire, and the attack stage begins.

The Mark 7's first improvement was to the use of mass effect fields during transit. Previous designs had the weapon's core inactivated until near impact, when the torpedo's mass would be drastically increased to bypass shields. The Mark 7's core decreased its mass in transit, greatly increasing the speed of the weapon and allowing a much greater survivability against GARDIAN defences. This would then reverse on final approach, increasing the weapon's mass to penetrate kinetic barriers.

The Mark 7 also had significant improvements to its guidance systems over other designs. Multiple torpedoes fired together act in concert, sharing target information if fired for autonomous target tracking. This insures that if one torpedo hits, it is extremely likely that the others in a salvo will as well. The torpedoes can also target ships via designation from supporting vessels, utilising FTL comms to overcome the relativistic speed limit of light. This can be done through feeding the weapons LADAR, RADAR, and/or thermal imaging data, further increasing the range.

The combination of warhead variety, increased speed, improved targeting capabilities and coordinated attack was to prove a deadly one for the batarians. The success of the improved weapon design would catch the interest of the rest of the galaxy in the aftermath of the battle. The rest of the galaxy had been using EXALT weaponry since the early 2160s, but the Mark 7's improvements raised serious questions about the continued viability of mass-accelerator weapons as the primary choice for navies. However, the torpedo did not replace the cannon for reasons of simple logistics. Torpedoes are a single use weapon, have a high per-unit cost and ships can only carry a limited number of them, requiring resupply after engagements. Its advantages far outweighed its disadvantages however, and the weapon gave a huge edge to the Alliance in the course of the war, starting with Elysium.

* * *

**Alliance: Agincourt-class Frigate**

While history often recalls dreadnoughts and carriers as battle winning instruments, Elysium's naval engagements were the triumph of a much more humble vessel; the Agincourt-class frigate. First commissioned in 2169, the class was the workhorse of the Alliance fleets, operating in wolfpacks of three to eight ships, they often proved themselves to be just as effective as cruiser patrol groups in carrying out their objectives as the war progressed. Elysium was no exception. While the capital ships played their part, most batarian vessels destroyed, crippled or surrendered during the battle would fall to frigates.

The ships had been continually retrofitted, particularly after the signing of the Human-Quarian Accords, which brought many technical advances to humanity's fleets. Armed with GARDIAN point defence lasers, a spinal mass-accelerator, six EXALT launchers, and a set of decoy and ECM capabilities, the ships completely outclassed any of the batarian frigate classes in service. Beyond their technical capabilities, the Alliance also possessed a significant advantage in the skills of the crews piloting their frigates. The choreographic-perfect command and control of their squadrons would become famous, and was hard won through constant drilling of their crews in VR and space exercises.

Hundreds of the vessels would participate in the battle and its aftermath, and they would account for almost three times their number of enemy vessels, with a huge victory-to-loss ratio. Their prey ranged in size from small cargo haulers to the largest enemy vessels in orbit. The success completely vindicated the Alliance Navy's doctrine of separating out cruisers and frigates into separate squadrons with sufficient fighter coverage, allowing both to operate in their most effective manner independent of one another. The Agincourt-class would continue in service throughout the Second Verge War right until the end of the Reaper War, when the advent of the stealth frigate would see them replaced.

* * *

**Hegemony: Verush Heavy Tank**

Named for the famous batarian monarch, the Verush Heavy is the main battle tank of the Hegemony and the primary opponent of the Alliance's M-40 Orca throughout the Verge Conflict. Developed before humanity's contact with the rest of the galaxy, the tank displays similar design principles to its rival; heavy armour, heavily armed, shields capable of taking heavy hits. Despite this, the vehicle operates very differently both in terms of its role and its equipment. After 2157, the Batarian Hegemony produced the weapon in huge numbers, following the doctrine established centuries earlier in the aftermath of the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions.

Its armament relies on simplicity and reliability to get the job done, foregoing the advanced features seen on the Orca or the turian Jiris Fighting Vehicle in favour of raw firepower. The Verush's main weapon battery consists of dual 105mm mass-accelerators mounted on both sides of a remotely controlled turret, linked to a fast automatic reload system and sensor equipment. This weapon is capable of rapid fire and doubles as a formidable anti-aircraft weapon due to its high vertical traverse. An alternate weapon load existed, mounting long range anti-tank missile launchers, but this version was deployed only in very small numbers for the Elysium campaign, under the command of the External Forces. In addition to its primary weapon, the Verush mounted a coaxial heavy machinegun for anti-infantry combat. Its defences included kinetic barriers, thick composite armour, and smoke/decoy launchers. The tank's lack of an active defence system and fewer anti-personnel weapons made it more vulnerable to missile-wielding foot troops and walkers. Batarian commanders made up for this downfall by having an infantry squad attached to each tank, often riding on top until fighting started.

Many of the tanks would be destroyed before being able to land, but the Verush would still outnumber its Alliance foes in the first twenty four hours of the battle. Armoured warfare would come to characterise the fighting outside of the urban centres, despite Elysium's rugged terrain. The Verush would prove itself up to the task, and the weapon would claim many kills in the offensives against the population centres. Alliance tank crews came to greatly respect its capabilities, developing specific tactics to deal with its high rate of fire at closer ranges on the fly. Elysium would not be the only battlefield where the Orca and the Verush would meet in great numbers, but it would be the largest clash, as batarian transportation capabilities were greatly reduced by the naval action to come.

* * *

**Mercenaries: Asari Huntresses**

By 2176, Elanos Haliat's empire was extensive, outstripping the scope of some of the minor Citadel species' own territories. Pirates gaining this level of territory was not unusual, but they usually collapsed into infighting soon afterwards. Haliat's success was rooted in the stability his rule brought to systems under his control. Using more or less standard turian ideas, as well as a mix of batarian and turian brutality, the Overlord of Altakiril reigned more like the leader of a state than a pirate. As such, he offered an attractive place for many kinds of people, for those looking for somewhere to do less-than-legal business, to seek their fortunes or for a second chance. It was a land of opportunity, albeit at someone else's expense. The asari were no less attracted to such opportunities than any other species, and Haliat's empire saw an influx maidens and matrons alike. Among these were many with military experience looking to cash-in, or those who would never be at the top of asari society but wished to be at the top of something.

Haliat had recognised the value of these individuals quickly, not least out of a fear that their talents would be snapped up by Aria T'loak and other rivals. Asari made up nearly a third of the pirate lord's permanent combat troops, and fully half of his command staff. He knew that his own people's rigid combat doctrines were unsuitable for a minor galactic power, but the asari's style of fighting was ideal for the same. This extended from grand strategy all the way to the tactical level, with asari huntresses leading turian combat troops into battle alongside specialised biotic squads made up of maidens looking for glory and treasure. The proportion of these troops and commanders relative to the rest of the mercenary forces was lowered by the mass recruitment campaign the Overlord had undertaken to pursue the campaign, but he was careful to keep the units together.

On Elysium, the asari were entirely underestimated by the Alliance, their reckoning of Haliat's mercenaries completely off the mark due to the presence of these unique soldiers. Aside from their biotic powers, which were considerable to say the least, they possessed decades or even centuries of combat experience. This combination was a truly frightening weapon. Furthermore, they never resorted to the blunt massed attacks that the batarians would rely upon, often using their allies' assaults as distractions to pierce the Alliance lines. Asari-commanded mercenary units would provide the humans with their most fearful moment in the battle, nearly throwing the entire Alliance plan for the ground war into disarray. Ultimately, it would not be enough to save the invasion from defeat, but it came close enough to doing so that the batarian-pirate alliance would survive the battle.

* * *

**Hegemony: Hensa-Class Heavy Cruiser**

The Hensa-class heavy cruiser was the cornerstone of the Batarian Navy, providing the core of its battle fleets both in terms of cannon and fighter cover. When first conceived in the late 2150s, the Hensa was intended to be a sub-dreadnought design that would maximise firepower and defensive capability right up to the limits provided for by the Treaty of Farixen. It was to replace the fragile and underpowered cruiser designs that the batarians had relied on before, and was the Hegemony's first conceptual foray into naval quality over quantity. As such, it was a major break from batarian tradition to the extent that it established a new tradition. Its defensive and offensive capabilities were such that it would remain a perfectly viable weapon for many years, even up until the minor conflicts after the Reaper War, with one Alliance Admiral describing the vessels as "horrendously over-engineered flying bricks" at a naval strategy conference before the Second Verge War.

With the introduction of the galaxy to humanity and the carrier to naval warfare, the Hensa-class ships were extensively retrofitted to carry fighters, to compensate for the Hegemony's lack of enthusiasm for large carrier classes. This was extremely cost-efficient compared to designing and building carriers like the Alliance was fond of, but came at the expense of lower operational capability for the fighters themselves. The ships were incapable of resupplying or repairing fighters, relying on supply vessels to carry the necessary parts and supplies. This restricted long range operations with fighters, a negative that the batarians counteracted by forming cruisers into fleet clusters with frigates. However, considered as a heavy cruiser alone, it was an excellent machine. It outclassed the Alliance's older New York-class, while being only barely outdone by the newer Belfast-class that entered service a year before Elysium.

In 2176, all batarian fleets consisted mostly of Hensa-class heavy cruisers, supported by frigates and resupply vessels. The Hensa mounts three main spiral guns, and thirteen broadside cannon per side of the ship, making it a formidable weapon in both long-range artillery duels and closer assaults such as engagements in planetary orbit. In addition to these, the class often sported externally mounted EXALT launchers, reverse engineered from examples captured during the early years of the Verge Conflict. However, by the time of the battle of Elysium, batarian torpedo designs were hopelessly obsolete. The role the Hensa-class would play in the fighting was to buy time, and in this it succeeded. Without the ship, batarian losses would have been total on both the ground and in space.


	15. ELYSIUM: The Battle I

THE EVE OF BATTLE

Throughout late January and early February 2176, Haliat's scouts arrived on Elysium disguised as tourists. These infiltrators spread out across the planet, setting themselves up in towns near to Alliance bases, often posing as couples wanting to get married. The colony is and was a popular marriage and honeymoon destination. They were meant to lay low, out of contact with their superiors, until the invasion troops began landing, at which point they would use smuggled weapons and explosives to disrupt infrastructure and disable AA defences. Their commander had opted for this addition to his plan at the last minute. The Alliance Navy had started more regular exercises, spooking Haliat into trying to assure that his seizure would go smoothly. Unfortunately, this would have the opposite effect. The Alliance DID's Counter-Intelligence Division simultaneously lifted the saboteurs on the night of February 20th, to avoid a message getting back to the batarians of the defence preparations. These would be interrogated for details of their targets, giving the Alliance yet another intelligence advantage.

February 20th was also the date when Alliance agents and listening posts reported the gathering-in-force of the Batarian First and Second Fleets at Khar'shan. The finalised numbers put the invasion force at over four million enemy combatants in all, to be landed continuously using the entirety of the Batarian Hegemony's military transportation capability as well as much of its civilian cargo capacity. The exact date of the attack was now known; February 22nd. Alliance defence plans were put into full effect immediately, again under the guise of exercises. Task Force Wizna emptied its bases in the mountains of Elysium and proceeded to its designated defence areas around major cities and near landing zones. The rest of the Fifth Legion's combat troops were recalled from leave, and placed on high alert.

Meanwhile, the distraction attacks by Haliat's pirate forces began. Several raiding squadrons were sent out to attack on the night of 21-22 February, hitting independent Verge colonies and certain select Alliance targets. Among them was Mindoir, which was attacked unsuccessfully three hours before the main invasion force transited to the Vetus System. The Alliance Navy moved its fleets as if to respond to these threats, pretending to fall for Haliat's trap in its entirety. Meanwhile, the combined pirate-batarian fleets began their journey from the heart of the Hegemony to the battle zone. Many would never see Khar'shan again.

THE BATTLE BEGINS

_**Phase 1: The Invasion**_

The Batarian First Fleet jumped into the Vetus System in full force at about lunch time in Elysium's capital, Illyria. They passed through the relay jump-zone entirely unopposed by either Alliance naval forces or the colony's colonial defence forces. Sensory sweeps of the system revealed no surprise Alliance force lying in wait. Haliat thought he had achieved perfect surprise. With the relay secure, he ordered the Second Fleet and the pirate armada to join the First Fleet, and the entire Batarian-Terminus force advanced to the gas giant Joppa. Here they found the ten defence monitor ships of Elysium's flotilla, guarding the fuel depots. These ships were built by the Luna Shipyards, bought by the taxpayers of Elysium for their own defence. In accordance with Alliance law, they had very limited FTL capability, but packed the weaponry and shield capabilities of a heavy cruiser. The pirate frigates fell upon these vessels en masse, as the batarians dueled with them at range. The sheer weight of numbers told their tale, and the monitors were forced to withdraw in a matter of minutes. They retreated out of the system to a designated rallypoint, to await the relief forces.

However, as the batarians moved to claim the fuel stations, the orbitals exploded spectacularly, showering the squadron dispatched to take control of them with huge pieces of shrapnel and destroying the squadron commander's vessel. It was not the only setback to be in the early part of the battle for Haliat. With Joppa secure, the fleets spread out and began their assigned tasks. The Hegemony's First and Second Fleets moved on Elysium and Sidon with the vast transport ships. As they did so, the towing vessels moved to do their job transporting preselected asteroids from their positions to orbits around the colony. Laying in wait was Elysium's force of torpedo corvettes, having arrived at the belt mere hours before the invasion began. General Orzeski had rallied the planet's defence forces at the last possible moment, finally informing the colonial government of its true peril. Alliance intelligence had discovered which asteroids were to be taken for use as WMDs, and the General immediately ordered them staked out. When the pirate and batarian tugs arrived, they were set upon by the corvettes and destroyed, and with them, the ability of the batarians to quickly and safely move asteroids. The corvettes were soon chased off by batarian frigates, and suffered 75% losses before they too were forced to retreat to their rallypoint.

Haliat took the destruction of the fuel stations and the asteroid tugs in good spirits. New stations could be deployed, and with the huge numbers of troops and ships at his disposal, he did not worry. With no tugs, the fortresses in Elysium's mountain ranges would need to be dealt with in some other way. Defeating the Alliance garrison would simply cost more lives, of which he had plenty to borrow from his allies. The Overlord delegated the task of bringing the Alliance bases to heel, granting General Gadnalak the command. The General for his part was delighted with his new orders, finally able to test himself and his troops' new techniques against the foe that had eluded him on Mindoir. The landings commenced with the attackers' morale and will to fight very much intact, despite their plan fraying at its edges.

Orzeski had not been idle during the time between confirmation of the offensive's start and when batarian dropships began appearing over the skies of Elysium. Hardened defence points with powerful kinetic barriers were hastily constructed to augment the large numbers of emergency bunkers that already existed. Evacuations of civilian areas to emergency bunkers were well under way when the enemy fleets entered orbit, conducted with utmost professionalism by the colonial paramilitaries and police. Thanks to the intelligence gathered by the DID, they were able to prioritise the most at-risk areas. Anti-aircraft batteries were mounted on trucks for quick deployment, as the expectation was that the batarians would try and flee as soon as they discovered Consul Taro's gambit.

The invasion fleet over Elysium began deploying the first troops, unopposed by human fighter squadrons. The External Forces were first on the ground, landing around the mountainous "ribs" of the planet where the Alliance alpine fortresses were located. Haliat's mercenaries landed to the south of the Isthmus of Illyria, the strip of land and islands connecting the two major northern continents where the planetary capital was located. The landings of these two forces were entire unopposed. Haliat himself landed at the town of Split, on the coast of the _Mare Orientale, _and set up his headquarters there in a hotel well-regarded for honeymoons. He found the town largely abandoned, with only a handful of holdouts. These were rounded up and thrown in the town gaol, to be transported into slavery later. Gadnalak by contrast was moving quickly, ignoring whatever civilians he came across and consolidating his forces' positions to surround the Alliance troops. The Batarian Army's Verge Strategic Command began the landings of their huge formations an hour after the initial forces, as the fighting started.

The first engagement was between elements of 4th Corps, Batarian External Forces and the 10th Armoured Brigade (Poland), in the Forest of Nouveau-Noir. Both found each other more or less by accident. The Batarians were moving to envelop the Alliance fortress at Mont Vert in the Midi Mountain Range. The Alliance armour had been dispatched to disrupt just such a move, to allow more time for civilians in the area to retreat. They were caught off guard by the speed of the enemy's movement. The recon elements of both formations met each other in the dense woodlands covering the foothills, and their respective commanders committed their troops to battle. Initially, the Alliance forces had the advantage. They descended on the batarian troops from the high ground, their walkers giving an edge over the tanks in the rough terrain, and the basic superiority of the Alliance soldier over her Batarian counterpart telling almost immediately. This state of affairs lasted about an hour, and the batarians were forced to retreat two kilometres along a wide front. However, numbers soon began to tell as the Alliance realised they had attacked a much larger force than they had first assumed. Massed attacks by batarian heavy tank battalions checked the humans' advance, and turned it. The human unit began a fighting retreat for the next twenty hours, allowing access to Mont Vert in the process but having delayed the batarians long enough. The civilians of the region had been able to flee to safety in time.

The Battle of Nouveau-Noir, as it came to be known, was typical of the fighting that was breaking out across the planet. Orzeski's troops probed the enemy landing zones and expected areas of advance in force to buy time. Batarian forces were initially shocked by the attacks, but rallied their increasingly superior numbers and retaliated. A game of cat and mouse started as dense foliage, decoys, advanced ECMs and heavy anti-aircraft coverage prevented the batarians from accurately bombarding the Alliance from orbit or with gunships. However, by the sixth hour of the invasion, the Batarian Army had landed all of their forward formations. The encirclements of the urban centres and Alliance bases were completed soon afterwards as planned, and what human forces were on the loose seemed minimally threatening to Haliat's objectives. Furthermore, Batarian armoured forces began moving on the northern end of the Isthmus of Illyria. The capital was cut off from the rest of the planet, trapping nearly eight and a half million people, of every Citadel species. Protecting them, two divisions of Task Force Wizna, and Orzeski himself, waited for the blow. However, Haliat declined to attack the capital directly so early in the campaign. The hinterlands to the rear of his position were still unsecured, and his mercenaries did not possess the heavy weapons for assaulting a fixed position held by armoured forces. He awaited the right moment, scouting the capital's approaches and defences. Fighting in the wilderness heated up as he did so.

Gadnalak's troops were in position to attack every Alliance fortress on Elysium simultaneously by Hour Seven of the invasion, breaking through various groups of both Alliance regulars and colonial irregulars to take up their positions. The three largest objectives, Mont Vert, Turciesdag, and Vietnui were protected by extremely powerful kinetic barriers, preventing any effective artillery bombardment from orbit. Small fortresses were softened up by sustained attack from the batarian navy over the course of the day, but the three largest would require a ground assault. This was somewhat problematic, albeit not an impossible task for the elite soldiers of the External Forces. Mountain training was not a standard part of the regimen of the batarians. Gadnalak was determined to attack, and received a direct command to do so from Haliat regardless of his own calculations.

The assaults were extremely bloody. At Mont Vert and Vietnui, the batarians were forced to sacrifice their tanks in order to advance close enough for biotics to make the breakthrough to the inner defences. The weight of fire from these two strongholds was such that dozens of vehicles were lost, as the infantry advanced behind them, huddling for their protection. At Turciesdag, the route to the fortress was too narrow for more than one tank to advance, and so the attack had to be made in a more traditional batarian fashion: By massed infantry assault. It is said that Gadnalak, watching the assault on the latter objective, quietly remarked that he would see the mountain renamed "Martyrs' Peak" to honour those who died to take it. This quiet reverence for his fellow soldiers' sacrifice soon turned to uncontrollable rage. Turciesdag was the first to fall, and when the batarian general entered with his troops, he found only a relative handful of colonial reservists. By hour thirteen of the invasion, the other two major Alliance fortresses had fallen. The imagined thousands of Alliance troops that the batarians had been fighting for control of the mountains were in fact combat drones controlled by weekend soldiers.

The question of where the Alliance had disappeared became an urgent one for Gadnalak. He calculated that nearly 80% of the Alliance regular forces remained unaccounted for. When he reported this to Haliat, the turian reacted with amusement. The Overlord's own mercenaries outnumbered the "missing" forces twice over, and nearly a million batarian conscripts had been landed from the fleet on board the huge passenger shuttles. He remained supremely confident of his victory. This continued even after the Batarian Second Fleet was dispatched back to the Kite's Nest to take up its positions for the coming grand offensive. Haliat sent his own pirate armadas back to the Terminus-Traverse border, to ambush any early counterattack by the Alliance there. He had complete superiority in space regardless, or so he believed, and an absolute advantage in numbers on the ground. He gave Gadnalak a free hand to "look" for the humans in the wilderness, while he struck the glorious decisive blow.

As night fell over the isthmus, the offensive against the cities began. Haliat's own troops moved to claim the greatest prize of the campaign; Illyria, the capital. Victory was within his grasp.

**Phase 2: Cityfight**

The urban fighting on Elysium began as scheduled on Hour Eight of the invasion, coinciding with the invasion of nearby Sidon for its research facilities and corporate locations. The second stage of the disembarkments were able to commence, as the troops could be fed from makeshift airstrips and prefabricated warehouses. All over the colony, Batarian Army units advanced from their approach positions in the surrounding wilderness, their landing zones now secure and their logistics infrastructure built. What they discovered answered the question of where the Alliance forces had disappeared to. The invaders' advances ran head-long into well-prepared defences, bristling with AAA batteries and the crack soldiers of the Fifth Legion. Within fifteen minutes of the start of the general offensive on Elysium's cities, it was obvious to anyone that the Alliance had abandoned conventional military wisdom for planetary defence. Instead of hiding in the wilds from orbital bombardments, they had evacuated to the cities to make a stand. Cities that Haliat needed, and had intended to capture intact.

This development finally gave the Overlord pause. The cities were packed with civilians, which he would need to capture as slaves. His allies would want to maintain and build up the colony once it was in their hands, as well as humiliate the humans, not simply kill the inhabitants. He had planned for fighting in the streets, but not against professional soldiers. Regardless, his turian military experience would have reassured him that his plan could flex to suit the new situation. He ordered the broadcast of the "safezone" locations, where civilians could go to avoid fighting. Refusal would result in execution. This was conduct taken straight from any turian combat manual, and humanity had seen the sharp end of the doctrine before on Shanxi. Once this was complete, the advance resumed. Gadnalak requested to be assigned to the assault on the capital, now that it was apparent that the enemy he was hunting for was there. Haliat refused him pointblank, not wanting the glory to go to the most prominent batarian commander. The general was reassigned to take Los Bancos, the most distant major city from the capital.

The attacks made mixed progress. On the larger southern continent, the Alliance fared best. The probing attacks on the smaller regional centres were fought off quickly, as the quality and quantity of batarian troops assigned to fight them proved insufficient to overcome even the colonial defence troops and their drones. The larger cities were subjected to much more determined attacks, with air support and orbital bombardments, but the batarians still found themselves unable to break the humans' lines. The Alliance simply retreated to a fresh defence line on the cusp of every major breakthrough. This was the mark of the mathematical approach of General Orzeski. He traded battlespace for huge numbers of batarian lives readily, and with great ease as the fighting moved into more urban terrain. As long as there was another line to retreat to, he could hold the enemy off just long enough. Casualties remained light. At Los Bancos, this tactic was noticed by Gadnalak as soon as the first Alliance retreat started. The attack on that city was halted immediately. The External Forces returned to a defensive posture, to the humans' complete confusion. At the time, the Alliance had no idea why the batarians would stop their assault, but fragments of the general's journal reveal his suspicions. "I began to suspect that the whole operation was a trap, one designed to kill as many of us as possible, though I could not confirm it at the time," he wrote after the battle.

The fighting on the northern continent was far less favourable to the human defenders. More flat than the southern sectors, the batarians had assigned proportionally more armoured units. In addition, the capital fell within the northern defence zone, meaning that other areas within it were less well defended. Lastly, Haliat's mercenaries had landed exclusively in the north. It was a bloodbath for both sides. In several settlements, the Alliance defences were pierced by armoured attacks, only for the tanks to be attacked in the streets where they were vulnerable. Anti-aircraft batteries were turned on the batarian infantry as they attempted to overwhelm the defences, while the batarian tankers took to shelling every building as a precaution. At the crossroads town of Shiloh's Pass, the Polish 24th Infantry Regiment was destroyed to a man by elements of four batarian mechanised divisions after a brutal and continuous six hour fight. Alongside them died every single member of the Alliance Army reserve unit raised in the town, every single police officer, and almost all of the civilian populace. No records or combat telemetry survived to detail how they fought, but it is apparent that every single one fought to the end. Their final message was broadcast in the clear. It contained only the words "In the Elysian Fields, the brave shall live forever," spoken by an unknown woman, followed by an orchestral recording of _Nearer to Thee, My God_. The remaining population was rounded up for processing into slavery, consisting mostly of young children and their guardians that had hid in the emergency shelters. It was the most important Alliance defeat during the ground war on Elysium. The fighting would continue well into the morning of the next day.

Yet these battles paled in comparison to the combat for the capital. Haliat's plan for Illyria was devious and brutal. The isthmus on which it sat was the most heavily defended piece of land on the entire planet. Twenty thousands troops of Task Force Wizna under the direct command of General Orzeski, the 11th Armoured Division and the elite 3rd Orbital Assault Division, were at the forefront. The colonial defence forces were also present in large numbers, often manning the formidable anti-aircraft, anti-tank and drone defences. Furthermore, the geography would funnel any attacking force. The approaches by sea had been quickly mined and watched by the GARDIAN batteries, and the land approach was narrow on both sides. Lastly, kinetic barriers would delay use of orbital bombardment to soften the defences up for days, and Haliat had no intention of destroying his prize at any rate. Ground assault was the only option once again, and the Overlord took it. His mercenaries boxed the Alliance in from the south, preventing any retreat or evacuation of the civilians. Once enough forces had massed, the Batarian Army struck from the wider northern part of the isthmus, throwing tanks and infantry at the defences in great wave attacks. This forced almost all of the Alliance tanks and walkers to be sent to the northern sectors progressively over the course of the night. This played right into Orzeski's strategy. The batarians would give their all to take a mere half-kilometre of ground, only for the Alliance to retreat again to a new line. Or so it appeared.

By dawn in Illyria, the batarian armour had advanced deeply into the suburbs, failing to destroy the 11th Armoured Division and the armoured elements of the 3rd Orbital Assault, as they fought a skillful withdrawal to the more heavily built-up second ring of the city behind its _rocade_. However, Orzeski had been deceived. Haliat had counted on the creation of a grinding war of attrition to the north to draw the Alliance tanks and walkers away. The south of the capital was now ripe for the infantry combat his mercenaries specialised in, and he had been preparing for it all night. The Overlord now committed the 150,000 mercenaries he had been rallying to the fight, a force representing more than 80% of his own available troops.

Coordinated perfectly, asari-led veteran squads infiltrated to within mere yards of Alliance positions in the gloom of the dying night and struck. They achieved complete surprise. Engineers set up automated turrets to keep the gaps open just long enough as the 3rd Orbital Assault Division responded. Orzeski ordered an immediate withdrawal to the next defence line as the general offensive began, but it was too late. The poison had entered the veins of the city. The huntresses' teams proceeded ahead of the retreat, bypassing the human professional forces and towards the soft targets. They began disabling anti-aircraft batteries and killing the colonial reservists that got in the way. For the first time, mercenary gunships could fly with some measure of optimism that they would not be shot down, and the second defence line was compromised in the next hour. The asari-led teams continued through the Alliance's interior lines, destroying utilities, cracking open emergency shelters to allow access to civilians, and disabling artillery positions. This had a devastating effect on the ability of the humans to continue fighting in the south.

Orzeski responded by issuing his contingency orders. All forces were to withdraw to their redoubt positions and were ordered to hold at all costs. All combat drones were to be set to ambush the enemy to cover the mass retreat. Alliance soldiers, reservists and police began the withdrawal immediately, potentially leaving the millions of citizens hiding underground at the mercy of the batarians and mercenaries. There was no other choice. At the same time, the 3rd Orbital Assault Division's walkers were ordered back to rejoin the rest of their comrades on the final southern defence line at the narrowest point of the isthmus. The batarian armoured divisions attacking in the north advanced quickly, slowed only by the numbers of rocket drones hiding on rooftops for them. Fortunately, both of the Alliance formations made it to friendly lines with little trouble. Unfortunately, they weren't alone.

What Haliat thought was the final battle raged for hours afterwards. The final lines encompassed the government and business districts, containing heavily reinforced bunkers, a hive of underground tunnels and earthquake-proof skyscrapers. The Alliance forces were able to pour fire down on the batarian and mercenary positions from elevated firing points, checking their advances quickly. Once again, the batarians attempted to trade bodies for ground, but this time, they failed spectacularly. The Overlord, watching from a luxury yacht he had commandeered, was horrified by the prospect of failure at such a cost. He ordered the troops back, and had some of the captured emergency shelters opened. The civilians were dragged out of them to be used as hostages, often in full view of Alliance positions a few hundred yards away. Human discipline held fast. After two hours, as many as a thousand civilians had been gathered in St. Eugene's Cathedral in the northern occupied sector. The threat was issued; the Alliance forces would surrender in two hours, or the civilians would be blown up inside the church.

Orzeski did nothing, refusing to respond in any way. The scheduled arrival of the Alliance relief fleets was less than ninety minutes away. If he surrendered, he would simply be giving the batarians more hostages for use against the rest of the Fifth Legion. He prepared his lines for a surprise assault, sending every reservist to the outer defences that he could and moving the AA batteries forward as well to deal with the massed attacks. Haliat was perplexed by this behaviour. A refusal could have been expected as equally likely to agreement, but ambiguous silence was not. The troop movements afterwards did not help matters, and gave the impression that the Alliance intended to counterattack despite the impressive odds stacked against them. The Overlord wished to avoid creating martyrs of the human troops in the capital. As a turian, he was well aware of the effects such an action would have on the will of the enemy to resist. Frustrated that he had been unable to take the capital in a single clean swoop, he ordered the commencement of his own contigency plan as the first hour of the deadline came and went.

An asari killteam made up of the most loyal commandos and huntresses left their observation post from within the humans' redoubt. They had managed to pre-empt the human retreat, and now made their way quietly towards Orzeski's headquarters. Extensive observation of the city from orbit had gleaned the location, while the movement of the reserves to the front provided no real challenge but empty streets all the way to the bunker's entrance underneath the Department of Justice building on the central public square. It was here that the killteam encountered the first resistance, an Emergency Response Team of the the colonial police that was resting in a recreation room. The asari slaughtered the ERT with ease, overwhelming them with biotic attacks that broke bones and flayed flesh. Afterwards, they opened an emergency exit of the bunker with thermite charges, and slid down the ladders into the military complex below. The alarms went off and the base's troops were placed on combat alert. It wasn't enough. The killteam made their way through the corridors, using the path of most resistance to guide them to the command and control room. The mercenaries took casualties, but caused far more. Their decades of experience, advanced equipment and biotics allowed them to reach their objective.

General Orzeski himself joined the defence of the Alliance nerve centre as the asari burst through the adjoining walls and began killing. The asari numbered less than a dozen by this point, but their abilities made them the match of any three or four Alliance soldiers at the very least. The vanguards charged around the room, emptying shotguns into the faces of surprised technicians while the matriarch in command proceeded directly to Orzeski's command staff. The General and his subordinates fired on the assailants, but he soon had his weapon pulled from his hands. The asari then ripped his leg off at the knee, and stood over him as he began bleeding profusely. As the fighting for the room continued, the matriarch demanded the surrender of the Alliance garrison from their commanding officer. The timing was supernatural. The main holographic interface in the room changed from a map of the city to a direct feed from orbit over the colony.

The Alliance's Combined Fleet had arrived, news to which Orzeski simply smiled.


	16. ELYSIUM: The Battle II

THE BATTLE CONTINUES

_**Phase 3: Planetstrike**_

The Batarian First Fleet was entirely unprepared for the counterattack that fell upon them. Against the thousand ships at the disposal of the Hegemony space forces, the Alliance would field just short of twice that number. The majority of the combat vessels were arranged in a defensive sphere just within weapons range of the primary relay jump zones, ready to handle any human counterattack. If anything, Admiral Dhark Ar'dra had hoped the Alliance would come in force, so he could score a crushing victory of his own over the hated enemy. Under normal circumstances, his plan would have worked, but as all were to learn, the circumstances were far from normal. There were also minor annoyances for the Admiral, courtesy of his overall commander. With their capability to use asteroids for bombardment destroyed, he had been forced by Haliat to break off flotillas from the defence of the primary relay to provide orbital artillery support. This action weakened the defences, the degree to which is still debated today.

The humans struck with finesse. First, a dozen Scylla-class trans-relay missiles were sent through the relay, carrying three-stage thermonuclear weapons. The exact yields remain classified, but the estimates in the aftermath of the battle by civilian experts placed them in the 25-30 megaton range. These detonated on transition to Vetus. Their purpose was twofold, first to destroy any static defences the batarians may have placed in the jumpzones themselves, and secondly to disrupt the batarian sensors for the first wave. Exactly sixty seconds after detonation, the Alliance counterattack began, with ten scout flotillas from the Fifth and Sixth fleets leading the way. The batarians were taken completely by surprise when the frigate wolfpacks arrived as a single group, weaved their way through their defensive formation under the cover of radiation, and made their way towards Elysium. Admiral Ar'dra barely had time to warn the batarian and Terminus forces on the planet, and organise pursuit of the five hundred enemy vessels, before the rest of Combined Battle Fleet Hiryu arrived and began engaging.

Those in the Elysium command bunker watched in captive fascination as the frigates fell upon the huge number of support vessels, and the cruiser groups protecting them, with a terrible vengeance. The asari matriarch in charge of the bunker assault could only watch in horror as all prospects of escape disappeared in an instant. The combat in the CIC room ended instantly as the transmissions to coordinate the ground counterattack with the Navy began pouring in. General Orzeski, ever the honourable soldier despite slowly bleeding to death on the floor, offered the matriarch a chance to surrender. Understanding that her position would be made worse by further slaughter, the asari agreed to capitulate. The commando team was restrained and moved to the cells in the Justice Building above, the first of many prisoners that would be taken. With that situation defused, Orzeski had an aide apply a tourniqet and medigel to stop the profuse haemorrhaging of his leg, before returning to command. The situation at the cathedral was now dire. There were mere minutes until the end of Haliat's deadline, and the arrival of the fleet had possibly rendered it moot in any case. The hostages needed to be saved, and quickly.

Luckily, the fleet had brought just the right people for the job. Inserting by orbital assault pod from their frigates, eighty N7 operatives landed in the church-grounds after a brief-but-intense EMP bombardment. Among them was a Lieutenant Jane Shepard, on her first combat tour. The naval special forces caught the batarian conscripts completely by surprise, and after a brief firefight in which their commanding officer was killed, they too surrendered. As soon as Orzeski was sure the hostages were safe, the order for the units defending Illyria to attack was issued. The 11th Armoured Division bore the Fifth Legion's golden aquila as it fell upon the batarians to the north, while the 3rd Orbital Assault moved to attack the Terminus mercenaries with assistance from the colonial defence forces. Both were unprepared for a counterattack, their positions arranged for what they thought was an imminent order to advance. The batarians fared better than their allies, having far more heavy armour support to call upon, but strafing by frigates flying in-atmosphere tore them to shreds. On the southern side of the city, the mercenaries lacked armoured support of any kind bar some heavy mech units. These troops now found themselves caught between the Fifth Legion's walkers and infantry advancing from the city centre, and airdropped walkers manned by Alliance N5s and N6s.

The mercenaries retreated in complete disarray, as their commander looked on from the luxurious yacht in the sparkling waters to the west. Only those parts commanded by the asari veterans held together, and covered the rout of their panicking counterparts admirably. All over the planet, Alliance forces began attacking batarian formations that outnumbered them by degrees of magnitude in some cases, safe in the knowledge that they now commanded the skies. Haliat's reaction to these developments was one of complete disbelief. All his grand dreams of a Terminus Empire with him at the head, allied with a strong Batarian Hegemony, fell to pieces in the space of an hour. He snapped out of his depression quickly. The Overlord of Altakiril was a survivor by nature, and he had every intention of surviving the calamity. He was not the only one. General Gadnalak, finding his suspicions confirmed, did not suffer the indignity of being counterattacked and found himself still very much in the game. So too did Admiral Ar'dra, the Arch-Hegemon's cousin not being one to fall to pieces under pressure.

Gadnalak and Haliat had similar ideas about how to achieve the feat of escaping. Both the External Forces and the remaining cohesive units of the Terminus mercenary forces made their way to the civilian spaceports. Haliat had already captured Illyria's southern spaceport, and was using it as an airbase for his gunships. His mercenaries rallied there, forming a defensive line in the industrial sectors between it and the city proper. The Alliance, unable to surround him as their reinforcements had not yet landed, contented themselves with picking at the wound, killing as many of the mercenaries as they could. The External Forces under Gadnalak were less fortunate, and had to fight their way through to Los Bancos' military aerodrome, through the first layer of the Alliance defences of that city. The batarian general succeeded, concentrating his forces and smashing his way through before the Alliance realised what he was doing. He too set up a formidable defensive position. However, both knew that if they were going to escape the battle, there was nothing they themselves could do but wait. Their fate was entirely in the hands of Admiral Ar'dra, who found himself hard pressed.

The battle at the relay zone defied the expectations of both sides. The Alliance forces tore through the initial batarian defence, courtesy of their confusion over the first wave and the superiority of the human naval forces generally. However, contrary to the predictions of some human naval planners, the batarians did not attempt to flee the system for others in the cluster, nor did they try to force their way through the relay to friendly space. Ar'dra carefully rallied his ships, using his two dreadnoughts to fend off the Alliance cruiser assaults, before withdrawing to Elysium itself behind a fighter screen. This was and is standard practice in many species' navies; both common sense and Citadel law forbid the bombardment of garden worlds with entire fleets' worth of accelerators. Admiral Ar'dra believed he would buy time with the action. He was mistaken. The Combined Battle Fleet was unperturbed, and followed hot on the heels of their enemy. The torpedo-armed frigates and fighters were no danger to the planet below, and they ranged at will, grinding the batarian line down ship by ship. Meanwhile, the duel of the capital ships began. The Alliance were surprised to find that it had numerical superiority in dreadnoughts as well as carriers. Kill squadrons waited for the chance to strike, as the dreadnoughts fought each other at distance.

With the space battle raging above, the situation on the ground changed in drastic fashion. Alliance reinforcements began arriving via landing ships or assault titans from the planetary assault cruisers in orbit, bringing the rest of the Fifth Legion into play. Combat elements from the Task Forces _Gironde, Brandenburg, Leinster, Wessex, Lazio and Wallachia _landed in Alliance-controlled spaceports, and in the countryside near the batarian staging grounds. Another hundred thousand troops, outfitted for both armoured and urban warfare, went on the attack against the batarian and mercenary positions. More would arrive every hour. For Haliat in Illyria and Gadnalak near Los Bancos, the clock began to tick faster, as their troops were finally under threat of being surrounded. However, with the arrival of the batarian navy in orbit once again, the opportunity to escape in the chaos also presented itself.

Haliat took the chance. Ever the cunning operator, he ordered the units he couldn't save forward, away from the landing strips, under the pretence of a counterattack with the protection of the batarian navy. Once this was complete and the Alliance forces engaged heavily, he gathered his best troops on board the civilian transports still parked in the spaceport. He abandoned the battle and escaped with his asari through the relay, spoofing old Alliance medical emergency codes to do so. Given the huge traffic to and from the relay by Alliance assault cruisers, the con worked. The Overlord of Altakiril escaped to fight another day. General Gadnalak also began evacuations of his External Forces troops as soon as the batarian fleet arrived. Despite lacking shuttles and ships for his whole force, he chose to evacuate the wounded first, followed by those who had been on the perimeter the longest. When he realised there would not be enough, he determined to die fighting. It was not to be. As the Alliance began an orbital bombardment, he was dragged onto the last shuttle by Major Balak, a man who would later become infamous for the Terra Nova Incident. Similar scenes played out all over the planet. Desperate batarian troops commandeered any and all spaceworthy vessels they could get their hands on, overloaded them with as many as they could carry, and attempted to rejoin the First Fleet. Most made it, while the unlucky few drew the wrath of roving squadrons of interceptors.

_**Phase 4: Retreat and Disaster**_

With the departure of Haliat, Admiral Ar'dra on board the _Fang of Khar'shan_ took command of all batarian forces, and the remaining mercenary forces surrendered. Orzeski, somehow still conscious despite his wounds, could claim success. However, the fighting was not yet over. On Elysium itself, there were still millions of batarian soldiers, most having not yet seen action and whom would not surrender without some sort of fight. In space, the situation was more tenuous for both sides. The Alliance held the relay and had absolute superiority in numbers, but the batarians could flee to neighbouring systems to draw the fight out despite their horrendous losses. However, Ar'dra knew that relief wasn't coming. The Second Fleet, having departed hours previously, could not abandon the defensive lines protecting batarian space to save him. Without relief, scattering to other systems to fight a guerrilla campaign would simply be a slow death. Robbed of any other real option, Ar'dra determined to escape with his fleet.

His opposite number, Admiral Ches Giap, was waiting for him. The Alliance Navy's position still wasn't as strong as it should have been. The Eighth Fleet, which had been sent around the Verge to attack, had still not arrived. The batarians' two dreadnoughts were still very much a threat, Ar'dra's flagship in particular causing concern. Giap was not confident of his ability to stop the batarians from escaping, and reported this to the Alliance High Command. Consul Taro overruled his concerns. Having trapped the batarians, she had little patience for what she saw as defeatism on the cusp of a great victory. Orzeski was in full agreement with his leader and ordered Giap to destroy the enemy fleet. The longer the batarian fleet was above Elysium, the longer it would take to rout or destroy the ground forces still ravaging the planet. Giap conceded, and pulled back the frigate wolfpacks for a great strike on the batarian orbital positions in conjunction with the rest of the fleet.

Ar'dra had other plans, however. He ordered the troops on Elysium to fight to the death, and then pre-empted the Alliance attack on his fleet with an attack of his own. The powerful Hensa-class cruiser groups began to maul their way through to the relays, with one group launching an attack on Alliance flotillas to let another pass, then repeating the trick. Giap reacted, ordering the frigate wolfpacks back into the fight. With their fleet caught between the jaws of the Alliance cruisers and the frigates, the batarians lost ships very quickly. The older batarian dreadnought _Son of Jal'ruun_ was destroyed when it was set upon by nearly forty Alliance frigates, their torpedoes tearing the ship apart. Yet, despite this damage to both their numbers and morale, the batarians succeeded. The greater part of their fleet, now reduced to some six hundred functional ships, escaped through the relay. Giap asked for permission from Orzeski to pursue with the Seventh Fleet, which was promptly given. He mustered the fleet, had it recover its fighters for another attack and ordered it through the relay.

What Giap found on the other side was carnage. The Batarian First Fleet had run headlong into the Alliance Eighth Fleet, which had arrived mere minutes before. Battered, their barriers depleted, their weapons hot and their drives nearly in need of discharge, Ar'dra's ships were no match for the fresh Alliance reinforcements. Frigates and fighters launched from escort carriers targeted the largest ships first. The batarians' two fleet carriers, the only examples then in existence, were the first to be hit. They were crippled by successive torpedo hits, and broke apart as their crews abandoned ship. The _Fang of Khar'shan_ itself was next, albeit in more spectacular fashion. It took two cruisers with it, before exploding violently as the fusion reactors detonated. This was possibly deliberate, as Admiral Ar'dra escaped the destruction of his ship, managing to dock with a batarian frigate as the battle continued.

The Seventh Fleet joined the havoc, taking the batarian formation from the rear. With the rate of losses staggering them, and no sign of mercy, the rest of the batarians retreated again, running their drives hot all the way to the next relay. Out of the thousand ships they had arrived with, barely three hundred had escaped. Giap, satisfied with the result as well as the good luck, reported the news back to Orzeski and the High Command. The former finally allowed himself to be taken to the infirmary after hearing the news, leaving the command of the ground war to his direct subordinates and command of the fleets to Giap. The hard fighting was over, and humanity had triumphed.


	17. ELYSIUM: The Aftermath

THE BATTLE WON

The Alliance consolidated their hold on the cities of Elysium as the Batarian Army fled into the wilderness to take up defensive positions, covering their tracks by burning buildings and forest, which would disguise their heat signatures from orbital scans. However, with their logistics infrastructure captured or destroyed, their food, fuel and ammunition needs would grow dire. With complete air and space superiority at his disposal and the Fifth Legion's three million combat troops, General Orzeski's forces hunted down and enveloped the invading army with a vengeance. The batarian armoured divisions in the north were destroyed piecemeal with the assistance of the Navy, and running out of fuel for their tanks in less than four days, the survivors surrendered in their totality. On the southern continent, the Batarian Army was able to hold out for a week on the supplies they had carried with them for the offensives on Elysium's cities. Rather than surrender, these units gradually lost their cohesion as their troops deserted. It would take almost a month until the last of these soldiers was found and arrested. The remaining External Forces troops in Los Bancos' aerodrome held out for two weeks, repulsing attack after attack by Alliance ground forces and taking hits from orbital strikes. In the end, a special force from the First Legion was brought in to handle the batarian elite. Gadnalak's disciples refused to give in, and were systematically slaughtered.

Total losses for the Alliance were not excessive, but hit hard nonetheless. Civilians bore the brunt, with approximately eighty three thousand dead or seriously wounded, most from the urban fighting around the capital. Military casualties were relatively light by comparison, with only five thousand Alliance soldiers of Task Force Wizna losing their lives and another fifteen thousand from the colonial militias and police units. However, these numbers were often concentrated in a small number of units. Alongside the Polish 24th Infantry Regiment, which had taken 100% casualties, the 3rd Orbital Assault Division and the 11th Armoured Division had entire companies wiped out, and they were far from alone. Units that had served together proudly since the First Contact War simply ceased to exist, and the guilt among the units that had barely taken hits at all was palpable. Humans were not the only military or civilian casualties of the battle. Salarians, asari and turians were all employed by the Elysium police forces, and died fighting alongside their human comrades. Individual asari civilians had also fought and died, often in defence of other civilians.

Losses for the Batarian-Terminus coalition were much more severe, a result of Orzeski's battle tactics designed to inflict just that upon the aggressors. The exact number of mercenaries killed in action is not known, but it is estimated at 20% of their total strength, or thirty six thousand. They had comparatively few wounded, which would later lead to accusations of summary executions. The batarians suffered much more severely. Aside from the one hundred thousand External Forces troops put to the sword at Los Bancos, the Batarian Army lost three hundred thousand in the first day, most to the massed attacks on fixed defensive positions and the human counterattacks upon the arrival of the Alliance Navy. Another million would die over the course of weeks following, a combination of orbital attacks, exposure, ground combat, abandonment of the wounded, and executions for cowardice providing the means. Approximately one third of the ground forces the batarians deployed were dead by the battle's end. Many officers had also been lost, either to combat or mutiny in the ranks as the Fifth Legion closed in around their troops.

The Alliance took a huge number of prisoners in the battle. Two million, six hundred thousand batarians, mostly conscripts, surrendered by the end of the battle. Another hundred thousand mercenaries, mostly turians but including some salarians and asari, joined them. Unwilling to keep these prisoners of war on Elysium itself, Orzeski ordered the seizure of the large corporate facilities on Sidon and had them transported off the garden world to await a political decision as to their fate. The invaders were expelled even as prisoners, never to set foot upon the world they had claimed as theirs ever again. Propoals by the Alliance to use the prisoners as labour to help rebuild the colony were rejected by both Orzeski and the civilian colonial government.

* * *

AFTER THE BATTLE

The attack on Elysium triggered a series of further military operations by the Alliance, having been conceived of by Consul Taro and organised for the start of war with the batarians. The objective of these operations was simple, inflict damage that could not be ignored by the batarians and rally human support. This was necessary, as the likelihood of another ceasefire if the batarian attack was simply repulsed was high. A return to the status quo or a ceasefire imposed by the Citadel was entirely unacceptable to the Consul. The idea that the batarians would simply hide behind their defences, unrewarded for their efforts, was repugnant to the High Command as well. When the plans of Haliat's attack were leaked, three operations were drawn up to assure that the batarians would have no choice but to turn to total war. As the Alliance naval trap was named "_Hiryu_", or Flying Dragon in the Japanese language, these operations were similarly given Japanese titles; Tora, Tanuki, and Okami, or Tiger, Racoon-Dog, and Wolf.

Operation Tora was the brainchild of the Consul herself, and was to be the main motivator to keep the batarians fighting. She turned to the deterrence fleet to aid her. Targets ranging from military supply dumps to tourist destinations for the batarian elite were selected and reconnaissance performed before the battle commenced. Once the batarians had been defeated at Elysium, the missile frigates were dispatched, and the targets nuked. Military targets were hit with maximum yield thermonuclear weapons deployed via Scylla missiles, which political targets were struck with tactical fission weapons to reduce civilian losses among the lower castes. Much of the military capability of the batarians on their outer colonies was destroyed in mere hours, but the real damage was to the political structure of the Hegemony, as thousands of high caste batarians were killed in the nuclear fire. Their outraged relatives demanded vengeance, as the Consul hoped they would, locking their species into a war they could not win.

The other two operations were aimed at strengthening the Alliance's hand for the coming conflict. Operation Tanuki was a coordinated cyberattack on the batarian extranet, then still linked to the Citadel species' own networks. The Tanuki Virus hijacked media feeds and search engines in batarian space, granting control to the Alliance before the Batarian Navy physically destroyed the FTL buoys to stop them. The first images broadcast were the batarian conscripts being marched into prisoner of war camps on Sidon, which provided both a crippling blow to the morale of the lower castes and a call to arms for the highborn. Operation Okami was aimed primarily at humans, namely the independent colonies in the Verge. As the battle for Elysium was winding down, First Legion special forces units dropped onto eight garden worlds that possessed human populations of significance. Working with local sympathisers, these troops then overthrew the colonial governments in coups. Martial law was soon implemented with the aid of First Legion field army units, which were flown in days later under the protection of Alliance flotillas. This insured that the entirety of humanity in the combat zone was under the sovereign protection of the Alliance, while granting several key strategic positions to the Navy for use as bases as required.

The political consequences for humanity were immediate. Outrage at the casualties was mixed with pride that there had been a spectacular victory. However, questions over the legality of Consul Taro's actions were raised. Despite knowing that the batarians were going to attack, the alarm was not raised, and many questioned both the morality and legality of using a colony as bait. Taro responded with characteristic flair. She stood up in a full joint session of the Alliance Parliament, and declared that she had the right to do what she felt necessary for the defence of the human species. She dismissed the legal argument by pointing out that no formal peace treaty had been signed, and that the Alliance was still technically at war with the Batarian Hegemony from its declaration under Consul Gasperi. She turned the moral argument on its head, arguing that the destruction of the Batarian First Fleet at the cost of civilian casualties saved millions of lives, as it would be unable to range at will through the Verge. She revealed the batarians' plans to conquer humanity and dissected them in detail for all to see. Taro compared the situation to Ancient Rome and Carthage. There could be only one power in the Verge, and that only blood could decide who would be the victor. She called an immediate vote for continuation of the war, and it was passed with a broad majority. Humanity geared itself for war.

The reaction of the Citadel Council was one of shock. The batarians, in attacking Elysium with the aim of conquering humanity, had proven true all the worst aspects of their character that humanity had been shouting about. However, in using the attack to trap the batarians and go on the offensive in their own their own right, the Alliance had given much weight to the idea of obscene scale of human ambitions. Anti-human commentators quipped that the Council was allowing humanity to take over the galaxy, piece by piece, and depicted humans as giant gluttonous apes. Attempts at mediation by the asari were rejected by both the Alliance and the Hegemony. The Alliance were not going to allow another repeat of the ceasefire that had ended the First Verge War. After Operation Tora, the only thing that would satisfy the Hegemony was human blood. There would also be no turian intervention. Human diplomats made it perfectly clear that any attempt to stop the war by force would be seen as hostile, and the turian public's respect for humans only grew as more details of the Alliance's victory surfaced.

In the end, the only thing measure the Council species took was to ban human military ships from using asari space. This had some practical effects; Altakiril, Haliat's personal kingdom, was most easily accessed via the Thessia-Illium corridor of relays. However, against the batarians, the ban had no effect. The salarians had a lucrative deal with the Alliance until mid-2177 for military access to their space, and they were eager to watch the fighting to glean technology and tactical insights at any rate. Human ships would be able to flank the Verge entirely to strike deep into batarian space, and access the Terminus from their own regions of space.

In the end, the rest of the galaxy could only look on in horrified fascination as the first major conflict since the Geth War broke out. The Second Verge War had begun.

* * *

Elysium was rebuilt quickly, as the Alliance Parliament voted an emergency funding package soon after war was formally declared, as well as a general compensation scheme for every family that had lost someone. Elysians signed up in droves for military service with the Alliance, a trend that continues today. As a reaction to the attack, colonial defences were strengthened, a factor that played a critical role in the lower casualty rates of citizens on the colony during the Reaper War. The militarisation of Elysium's society did not reduce its charm as a wedding, honeymoon and couple destination, and tourism increased after reconstruction.

The town of Shiloh's Pass, where citizens and soldiers alike opted for death rather than slavery, was rebuilt on the orders of Consul Taro. The town was granted the Star of Terra, humanity's highest military award, the only settlement of the Alliance to receive it prior to the Reaper War. It also received military accolades from the Asari Republics and the Salarian Union, as their citizens were among the dead. A statue was raised in the honour of the unknown woman who had sent the final words of the townspeople, depicting her as a Winged Victory standing between a great serpent and children of the town. A cemetery for the Polish 24th Infantry was also built, and when the unit was reconstituted, it became the official gravesite for all the unit's dead in all subsequent conflicts. The town became crucial in the Reaper invasion of the planet, when citizens and soldiers held off a huge enemy force, this time repulsing it in time to evacuate surrounding towns. Re-enactments of the battle are held every year, followed by a remembrance ceremony in the town square.

* * *

The International Tribunal for Elysium and Sidon began its first hearings on Sidon itself six months after the battle, to deal with the prisoners of war accused of warcrimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against sentient species. As the Alliance had no jurisdiction over such trials at the time, the court was made up of justices from the European Court of Justice, the US Supreme Court, the African Court of Final Appeals, Australian High Court and the South American Federal Supreme Council. The vast majority of the cases were prosecutions against higher caste batarians, often surviving officers and NCOs, whom had ordered both the deaths of their men in the aftermath for cowardice or the deaths of civilians in their combat zone. Mercenary leaders were prosecuted for terrorism and warcrimes related to ignoring the laws of war with respect to banned weapons. In all, some three hundred were tried before the tribunal.

The most interesting case was that of Matriarch Irla T'nali, the leader of the asari huntresses whom had stormed Orzeski's command bunker. She was charged with terrorism and the murders of the police emergency response unit, which at the time of her assault was unarmed in a recreation room. On the charges of murder, the defence argued wartime necessity as the team would have raised the alarm, while the prosecution argued an unarmed combatant outside a combat zone is not a combatant and therefore they cannot be harmed. On the charge of terrorism, the prosecution pointed out the brutality of the attack as evidence, but the defence had a star witness; Orzeski himself. In the end, T'nali was convicted of the murders of the police officers, but acquited of the terrorism charge on the basis of Orzeski's testimony. The session was closed, but it is said that the general argued that it was only common sense to attempt to destroy the command and control centre of your enemy. Sentencing saw the matriarch receive death by firing squad for the murders along with her squad, but this was commuted to life in prison with the possibility of extraordinary parole. Rumours that valuable intelligence was the reason behind the commutation, but historians agree it is just as likely that the politicians didn't wish to discourage surrender. T'nali would later be released to fight in the Reaper War.

* * *

General Leon Orzeski was promoted to Field Marshal for his brilliant defence of Elysium, but retired as he had planned to. He toured the Alliance colonies giving speeches in support of the war effort, encouraging recruitment and the purchase of warbonds. When the war was over, he settled on Elysium itself, buying the house that Haliat had used as a headquarters in the seaside town of Split. He became a professor of strategic studies in the college there, where he was well liked by his students. He received a cloned leg soon after the battle to replace the one that Matriarch T'nali tore off with her biotics. He kept the "spare" leg, and buried in a plot next to his house, regularly visiting it with his students as a joke. He would die during the Reaper War, attempting to protect his students. Unable to think of anywhere more appropriate, they buried him next to the leg he lost in defence of their planet during the first invasion. The students who later died would be buried next to him, and his garden became a memorial in its own right.

* * *

The Overlord of Altakiril, Elanos Haliat, escaped back to the Terminus Systems with his best troops without incident. However, he found himself in a difficult position. His plan had failed, and he found himself at war with the Systems Alliance. The batarians insured that he would remain an ally throughout the war, but mainly dealt with his subordinates directly, wishing to avoid the stench of failure. After the war, he lost power almost immediately as the sharks circled for the kill. The batarians were neither willing nor able to support him, much of his territory had been attacked by Alliance-backed rivals and his reputation as a leader was in tatters. He was reduced to piracy, and eventually, terrorist acts. He was killed with an omniblade by Commander Jane Shepard in late February 2183, as he attempted to cause an incident between the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy using First Contact era nuclear weapons. His body was never recovered.

* * *

Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra was furious upon receiving news of the Alliance's victory on Elysium, but had little time to remain so. The effects of Operation Tora and Tanuki seriously challenged his powerbase within the Hegemony. The elites cried for war, while the people wished to avoid it ast all costs. With the cooperation of his cousin, Admiral Dhark Ar'dra, he attempted to play the whole attack off as a trick by the humans. He claimed that a distress signal had been received and the First Fleet dispatched to help. As most of the fleet was destroyed outside of the Vetus System, he claimed the fleet was ambushed and had attempted to escape to Elysium. The ploy worked to settle the lower castes, at least until the truth came out during the Great Upheaval in 2184. He laid the blame solely on Haliat's shoulders, and ordered Batarian State Arms to begin constructing dreadnoughts and carriers in violation of agreements with the Citadel. The war would be a challenge, one that he would fail.

* * *

Consul Nozomi Taro's success in provoking a war with the batarians saw her popularity rise again to the levels seen during her complete victory in the elections four years earlier. However, with an election approaching in 2177 and with a war to organise, there remained much to do. Her infamy with the rest of the galaxy's species grew to stratospheric levels, particularly with the turians who applauded her decision to entrap rather than simply confront the batarian attack. "The Tiger" continued to lead humanity, as the conflict between her people and the batarians finally entered its long awaited bloody stage.


	18. ANHUR: Prelude to Battle

_AUTHOR'S FOREWORD: Apologies for the delay in Battlefield-Mass Effect story updates, but I had to get my ideas for a Dragon Age fiction onto paper, so-to-speak, so I went and did that for the past while. More or less regular updates will resume for this, Battlefield 2183, and Battlefield 2157._

_Also, thank you for the many kind reviews! If you like it or hate it, please don't hesitate to drop a review._

* * *

**THE VERGE CONFLICT: **

**Second Verge War; _Anhur Campaign (2176)_**

Three and a half months after the superlative Systems Alliance victory over the combined forces of the Batarian Hegemony and the Terminus pirate lords under Elanos Haliat, humanity began its colony-hopping strategy to seize the batarian exclaves across the galaxy. The culmination of several planned strategies for the deployment of human forces in the event of war, the campaign on Anhur was perhaps the most hard fought of all the planetside campaigns that would take place during the Second Verge War. June of 2176 would see a massive invasion force enter the Eagle Nebula for the pacification of the colonies there, of which Anhur was the most heavily populated and most strategically important.

Another factor made Anhur stand out among all the other series of battles in the war; the opponents. The colony was not officially a world of the Batarian Hegemony until near the end of the fighting, and the Alliance would face resistance primarily from an coalition of batarian confederates and human dissidents. As such, the brutality of the fighting was remarkable. Very few prisoners of war were taken, and at least one of the Alliance combat units would be accused of war crimes by the campaign's end.

The consequences of the campaign would reach far and wide. The Systems Alliance would prove itself capable of seizing and holding enemy colonies with large populations, while the Hegemony would understand that it could not successfully aid isolated outposts of its people. The defeat of the slavers would send ripples throughout independent colonies all over the galaxy, which human intelligence services and mercenary warlords would exploit with equal glee. The balance of power across the so-called 'free worlds' of the galaxy would be overturned and rebuilt, and all because of a single campaign.

* * *

PRELUDE TO BATTLE

After the fighting at Elysium, and the subsequent operations to lock the Hegemony into a total war, the Alliance pressed its advantage hard. The Verge is a web of relays and systems, connections between clusters being more complex than in most of the rest of the galaxy. With their navy severely weakened, the ability of the batarians to defend all their colony worlds was catastrophically undermined. Together, the Alliance Navy and Army attacked and secured the outer sphere of batarian colonisation directly. Some twenty garden or near-garden worlds fell into human hands in a matter of months, despite orders for their populations to fight to the death. These successes can be attributed to factors beyond simple superiority in warship numbers. Alliance propaganda measures had hit the morale of the outer colonies particularly hard, as direct control from Khar'shan was weaker than within the inner sphere of batarian territory.

However, success brought further problems to the table for the Alliance. The main front now lay directly against the formidable fixed defences of the Kite's Nest itself, with its arrays of space stations guarding passage to the batarian homeworld through the relay jumpzones. These had no small amount of firepower to bring against any aggressor that might attempt to pass. Behind them, the colonies in the cluster and others accessible only via the Harsa relay were entirely safe. Assaulting such a position would require a determined effort, one that could not be stripped down by military needs elsewhere. Although within striking distance of victory, the Alliance would have to deal with every other menace to its colonies before being capable of launching the blow that would end the war. Alternative plans to reduce the need for an all-out attack were laid out and preparations began, but these were years from readiness.

Added to this problem was the exclave batarian colonies. As the Batarian Hegemony had been an associate member of the Citadel for centuries before humanity's rise, many of its colonies were Council grants in areas not directly connected to the rest of batarian space. In addition to that, batarians represented a significant part of the population of many 'free' colonies, worlds shared between two or more species under the auspices of galactic law. These represented a significant threat to the war aims of the Alliance. If left to their own devices, they would immediately become bases for the Terminus pirates, whom were still quite happy to launch hit and run attacks against human bases and colonies. If left unmolested for months or years, they could possibly even raise fleets to go on the offensive. It was militarily and politically unthinkable to allow such eventualities to come to pass. They would have to be taken as a matter of necessity.

However, the Alliance had other motivations for undertaking such a strategy. As humanity now lay largely outside of the Council's good graces, the prospect of further colonies being authorised had shrunk. Humans were leaving Earth at an unprecedented rate, helped in no small part by the 2176 Military Land Grants Act, which parcelled out land in return for military service in addition to pay as an incentive for recruitment. Prestige also demanded expansion, as humanity's sense of self was threatened by the sanctions from the Citadel. However, in reality, the rest of the galaxy's political leaders had privately come to terms with the notion of humanity's rise, and so expected them to seize and recolonise batarian exclave worlds. The asari in particular saw the Alliance as an something to be nurtured and guided, rather than kept down as they had attempted to do with the batarians over the previous centuries. While the Alliance's consuls found such an attitude insulting, they also found it useful. Recolonisation was to be the guiding principle until near the end of the war.

Anhur itself was chosen as the first target for reasons only tangentially related to the broader conflict. A joint batarian-human world, it had been suffering with unrest for several years before. Both species inhabited all strata of society, from the corporate elite at the top, to the service, agricultural, and factory workers at the bottom. Normally, this would not be a particular cause for alarm, but the leaders of the colony had proceeded to sign their own death warrants with a move that could not have been more ignorant of the general mood in the Alliance. Threatened by the cheap and slave labour from both the Hegemony and the Terminus Systems, the corporate congress that ran Anhur's government abolished the minimum wage. Slavery was imposed overnight on some 60% of the populace. Public opinion both on and off-world was outraged, and the Anhur Rebellions began in earnest, plunging the world into a brutal civil war. A war, it is important to note, where the battle lines were not necessarily drawn along the lines of race. Batarian slaves rebelled as often as their human counterparts, and batarian corporate leaders dominated alongside humans.

To the government of the Alliance however, the situation fit directly into the war they were about to face. The Rebellions broke out a mere month before the attack on Elysium, and the Hegemony provided many weapons to the slavers there in that time. Unable to do anything directly for fear of tipping off the batarians to her plan, Consul Taro engaged the Eclipse mercenary company out of Illium to aid the emancipation cause while she ordered the preparation of an invasion. Originally, worlds closer to human space were to be the first targeted, but the political ramifications of ignoring Anhur's strife would have been crippling. The notion of humans enslaving other humans with the aid of the enemy struck the Consul as an act of the highest treason regardless. Humanity would strike down the traitors with all the force she could bring to bear, and send a message to the galaxy in the process.


	19. ANHUR: The Leaders

THE LEADERS

**Alexander deBankole, **_Minister for Defence of the Systems Alliance_

Alexander deBankole was appointed as Minister for Defence in September 2172 as part of the cabinet of Consul Nozomi Taro. He was unusually well suited to the job for a politician, being both a combat veteran of the Cold War, the last global conflict on Earth, but also a highly educated man in his own right. A joint European and African citizen, he stood at the very heart of the human establishment as the reliable man, and was regarded as such by both political allies and opponents. Although a pragmatic individual, he differed from his direct superior on several issues. Taro's ruthless and Machiavellian nature clashed with his own more cooperative personality. Despite clashes of personality, the two did get along, which is perhaps why the Consul selected him to oversee the planning of both the campaign on Anhur and the subsequent operations in the cluster. Others have suggested that Taro placed her trust in deBankole as a test, to see whether or not he could make the hard choices that would be necessary for the war's success.

The task before the Minister was far from a small one. A month before war broke out, neither the Cabinet nor the Alliance High Command had any plans for Anhur beyond a small naval blockade. Tensions had flared up on the planet for all eleven years it had been colonised for, but racial conflict in particular was at an all-time low when slavery was imposed and the Anhur Rebellions began. To make matters more complicated, the Eagle Nebula was on the other side of the galactic core to both human space and batarian territories. However, the Alliance was significantly closer, and the Hegemony was blocked from accessing it from either salarian space or the Terminus Systems by human naval power. While this did mean that batarian reinforcements were likely to be small to non-existent, it also meant that the Alliance had no nearby bases from which to resupply the campaign's effort. Long supply lines would hamper the military effort if any real disruption was felt against them. There were real fears that the Terminus pirates would intervene with their limited naval power against supply dumps and cargo vessels.

Exacerbating these problems was the Citadel Council's disapproval of the war. The asari, whom controlled the majority of the relay routes in and out of the Eagle Nebula, outright refused to allow human military forces to pass. They protested the manner in which the batarian invasion of Elysium had been handled. The Alliance had an existing treaty with the salarians for military use of their space until mid-2177, opening up the only other safe route to Anhur for a limited time. Taro had appealed to the salarians to sign a longer term deal, but their counteroffer was obscene in its terms, most likely as a result of pressure from the turian and asari governments. Rather than take the offer, as the dalatrasses likely hoped would happen, deBankole advised rejecting it. Hobbling the entire war effort for a single world would be an absurdity, he said. An alternative plan would have to be formulated, one that could work within the timetable of the treaty. DeBankole would construct such a plan.

There were other logistics problems that the Minister would have to account for. The most urgent was the dire need for ships of all classes across the entire theatres of operations in the Verge and the border with the Terminus Systems. Construction of the full complement of vessels for the Eighth Fleet was continuing apace, but it still would be not enough. The Alliance could choose to cut off the Hegemony from the rest of the galaxy, or conduct a colony hopping campaign on a continuous basis. It could not do both at the same time. DeBankole's position on this matter was clear. Establish local space superiority, and then leave the ground fighting to the Army without the benefit of significant orbital support. The policy was popular with both the Navy and the Army, as the former had little wish to spread its assets thin against such a determined enemy, while the latter had thought its role was diminishing in the face of the naval stand-off. Anhur would be the test of this strategy, and it would remain controversial both during and after the war.

Political optimism for the campaign was minimal, however. The Eagle Nebula also connected to the Terminus Systems, which would allow the enemy to resupply as long as their credit held. Much was made of this fact, particularly during the fighting itself. There was a lot of complaining in both the Alliance Parliament and the media that the campaign was a sideshow to the attack against the heart of the Hegemony that was so desperately needed. Civil discourse was unappreciative of the serious challenges facing the military in defeating the batarians. There were calls for an immediate direct attack on the Kite's Nest. Both Consul Taro and Minister deBankole stood firm. Such an assault would have been utter folly. Controversy also raged over the hiring of the Eclipse mercenary company before the outbreak of the war, particularly from the government's own left wing. The announcement of full Alliance combat operations did much to quiet these objections, but did not quell them entirely, particularly with the mercs' continued presence in the field.

Despite these challenges, the campaign on Anhur would see the Minister's reputation soar from that of a junior, technocratic figure in the halls of the Alliance to that of a candidate worthy of the consulship itself. The speed with which victory was won, the enemies which would be vanquished, the people liberated, even the brutality of the combat and its aftermath, all would raise Alexander deBankole to the highest levels of esteem, both from his fellow humans and among other species. Little did the galaxy know that one of those who would lead them through the darkest times imaginable was now staking his political career on a little world in the Eagle Nebula. Nor was he the only future hero of the Reaper War with his chips on the table.

* * *

**The Na'hesit, **_Anhur Corporate Congress_

Anhur in 2176 was ruled collectively by a large and nebulous organisation of corporations collectively known as the Corporate Congress, or the Na'hesit in batarian, literally "_We, the Merchants_". This reflects the stormy circumstances under which the world was colonised, and the compromise solution that the Citadel Council imposed when the matter was brought before them for arbitration. In 2165, the year of humanity's full entry in the galactic markets, Anhur was being settled by the Batarian Hegemony, or more specifically, several merchant houses associated with the top ranks of that state at the time. The conflict with humanity was still largely a cold one, and the entry of the new species into the arena meant that colonisation had become that little bit more complicated.

Arguments over who should colonise and control the world began. The Alliance argued that Anhur was closer to their space, and that if a non-Council species was to be awarded it, it should have been them to take receipt. The batarians pointed to the huge 'gift' that the Council had allowed humanity to take of the garden worlds that the species had colonised before the First Contact War, not to mention the expansion into the Skyllian Verge at their expense. The solution was that neither the Hegemony nor the Alliance would be given sovereignty over the world. It was instead to be ruled jointly between the sponsoring corporations from both species as well as a conglomerate from the Terminus Systems. This arrangement would have serious political consequences, particularly where the priorities of the government were concerned. Thus, the Anhur Corporate Congress was born.

Contrary to expectations, the new regime's various factions became extremely friendly to one another. They had many shared interests and concerns. The first issue to unite them was defence against the Terminus mercenaries and pirates, which threatened their prosperity. Anhur lay on the shortest safe relay route from the asari-held section of the Terminus to both human and batarian space. After they had made their arrangements for defence by founding a common security and police force, which was by no means lacking, their direct economic interests began to intertwine. Competition and antitrust laws were stripped down, as the bigger players moved to consolidate power. They were joined by wealthy rebels from both the Alliance and the Hegemony, looking to escape the regulations of the former and the tyranny of the latter. The colony became a haven for the disgruntled person of means, and an alternative to asari-dominated Illium.

In a war between the human and batarian states, one might be under the impression that a colony such as Anhur would prefer neutrality. Certainly, the batarian merchants in particular had no love for the Hegemony. As the conflict with humanity heated up, more and more batarian merchant houses chose to relocate to Anhur, Omega or Illium. This trickle became a surge in the aftermath of the First Verge War, when Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra began his purges and dissolved the Council of Greaters on Khar'shan. However, the colony's economic rivals were not idle once its prosperity became a clear threat to their own bottom lines. Slavery in the Terminus, particularly on Illium and via Hegemony-backed middlemen, began to eat into the profits of the Corporate Congress. Thus began the colony's inevitable descent into conflict with the Systems Alliance.

At first, the colony began tightening its belt. Cutbacks on services not deemed of direct benefit to the corporations were instituted, mainly affecting entertainment and some beautification projects at first. However, it was an idea that found traction elsewhere soon enough. Healthcare, education, utilities, and child benefits were lowered, eliminated or taxed. Between 2172 and mid-2175, these remained tolerable to the majority of the low-paid earners on Anhur, due largely to low prices. The real driving factors behind the Corporate Congress' fatal move were crime and emigration. As poverty increased on the colony, so too did crime. The government responded by vastly increasing its hold on the populace via its police forces, eventually expanding to paramilitaries and mercenaries to maintain security at key facilities and in large cities. The crime combined with the crackdowns encouraged the beginnings of a wave of emigration, particularly among those with families, who feared for their safety.

This presented a dual problem to the rulers of Anhur. On the one hand, they saw their labour force realising that prospects were better outside the colony. Emigration was a small issue going forward, but indicative of the world's future if they did nothing to change their ways. They needed to address it. On the other hand, competition with Terminus worlds was growing more fierce by the year. The colony did not have the advantage of the Citadel's protectionist tariffs on goods coming out of the unaligned worlds. Exports were also threatened from Illium, which undercut labour costs significantly with its legal slavery system. A system that did not seem to violate the rights of the indentured servants to an unacceptable degree, in the eyes of the human leaders of the Corporate Congress. Their batarian counterparts were entirely used to slavery to begin with, being from a culture with a strict caste hierarchy with slavery inherent in the system.

Thus, the Na'hesit attempted to solve both the problem of emigration and make itself more competitive by attempting to establish a system of indentured servitude nearly identical to that seen on Illium. To this end, the Corporate Congress lowered the minimum wage to zero and declared all but the shortest contract terms on workers within a set range of earnings to be indefinite. Nearly 60% of the populace became slaves almost overnight, in a startling series of events. To quell the notion that these workers would become chattel slaves, particularly among humans, the measures taken to reduce the budget were reversed at the same time. Healthcare, utilities, education and child benefits were restored almost to the levels previously enjoyed. The labour cost savings and the monopolisation of the domestic market more than covered the costs of such a measure. This would stop any ideas of rebellion, it was hoped. Among elite batarians, it was assumed that their fellows would simply accept the new order, as it was still infinitely better than living as low caste scum in Ar'dra's new Hegemony. Both humans and batarians were disgusted and outraged by their new status, defying their masters' expectations almost immediately.

A greater miscalculation could not be imagined.

The population of the Systems Alliance was infuriated beyond all rationality. Offices of the corporations involved on Anhur were burned by angry mobs all over human space, sometimes with the cooperation of local police forces. Merchandise produced on Anhur was destroyed, often by ditching the containers into the sea in a manner reflective of the Boston Tea Party hundreds of years before. Alliance politicians, scared of and cowed by their electorate, demanded action. None came at first, as the batarian attack on Elysium was mere weeks away and the larger war was about to start. Consul Taro played her cards close to her chest by necessity.

The resistance to the imposition of slavery on Anhur itself started slowly, at first. Humans in particular were hopeful that the Alliance would send a fleet to overthrow the Corporate Congress. It was left to the lower caste batarians to begin the armed resistance in earnest, while the humans protested peacefully. Both were met with varying degrees of force. The violent resistance saw civil rights suspended across the colony. The protests were put down quickly too, as the government realised its mistake but was unable to correct it. Reversal would mean losing power, and the executives had been in charge far too long to allow that. Extensive bombings, sometimes even suicide attacks, began across the planet, carried out by a group of batarians calling themselves the Na'kharit or "_We, the Great Ones_." The play on words was not an irony lost on their targets. They were soon joined by the Anhur Republican Army, a human group made up of deserters and freed slaves, which began guerilla attacks against the mercenaries and security forces. Together, they formed the Coalition of the Free, or CoF, and declared war against the Corporate Congress on New Year's Day, 2176. The Anhur Rebellions had begun, plunging the world in a devastating civil war.

For a month, the fighting was insignificant and sporadic, especially compared with what was to come. Both sides used the time to recruit and arm themselves with what they could. There was an acute lack of armour, biotics, heavy weapons or air support. The Na'hesit did have some minor orbital firepower, but lacked the sensory equipment to use it properly for bombardments. However, the dynamics were to change. The Hegemony, with the knowledge that the Alliance would likely try to take the world sooner or later when war broke out, sent huge amounts of equipment. These were dispatched using the same ships that would carry the troops to Elysium, in many cases. With Hegemony involvement confirmed, the Alliance began sending weapons too and hired the Eclipse to coordinate training, as well as keep the CoF intact while the batarian plot in the Verge was dealt with.

The game changed again once the Alliance victory at Elysium had been won. The Corporate Congress knew that they would be in the sights of humanity's armies and fleets, though they had no idea when the wrath would arrive. They did not think it would come as soon as it did by a long shot. However, they were not the leaders of a whole world by being flippant about precautionary measures. Contact was made with the Hegemony via their Terminus allies for more support, and it was readily given. Up until the very moment the Alliance's naval net around the Kite's Nest and Viper Nebula closed, batarian ships were transporting matériel to the Na'hesit for the purpose of winning their war.

They used their new found equipment to try and crush the Rebellion before they could be relieved by the Alliance, and had no small success in accomplishing their goal. Open resistance to corporate rule was crushed in four of the five continents of the planet, as well as all the island chains connecting them. There, the abolitionists were forced to resort to terrorist tactics to make a go of poking their enslavers in the eye. The idea behind these moves was simple. Restore order to the planet and climb down from crisis to the greatest extent possible, before the Alliance arrived with fire and brimstone. If the issue was settled before a campaign could be mounted, they hoped to avoid retribution entirely. An entirely feasible plan, if their opponents had not been Nozomi Taro and Alexander deBankole, and if the strategic objective of the Alliance had not been the total subjugation of all batarian colonies outside of the Kite's Nest. The failure of the Corporate Congress to conquer the entirety of Anhur by June 2176 would cost them very dearly indeed. Their legacy in history would be as pariahs to both their species, with even batarian loyalists regarding them as weaklings and caste traitors.


	20. ANHUR: Strategy

STRATEGY FOR OFFENCE

The planning for the campaign on Anhur was made by the Alliance High Command in cooperation with the Department for Defence, with both the Navy and the Army being heavy contributors to the overall strategy. Despite this, the plan was very much the Army's project, reflecting the state of the war generally. Army leaders were keen to show what they could do, particularly as the great majority of the glory thus far had been won by the Navy. Even Elysium, a near perfect victory both planetside and in orbit, was viewed among the field marshals as a naval achievement. The reason for this attitude was simple. At the Vetus System, the Navy had dealt a decisive blow to the batarian counterparts and rescued the Army. There was no corresponding ground victory for the Army to point to. There were worries that the Army would eventually be placed under the command of the Navy entirely, as had originally been proposed at the foundation of the Alliance. This had been rejected as destructive of centuries-long military traditions, but the threat occasionally arose from time to time from pacifists and fiscal hawks in the Alliance Parliament. As such, Anhur was viewed as the perfect opportunity to deliver a noteworthy victory to the Army.

The plan very much reflected this political reality. The fingerprints of both the Minister for Defence, who was himself an infantry veteran, and those of Field Marshal DeRuyter were all over it. The other major considerations were twofold. Firstly, the terrain of Anhur is similar to Earth, having five major continents, often divided by oceans and connected by island chains. This meant that the assault would have to be done in stages, as each continent had formidable defences in their own right and the open ocean was not a suitable landing zone. More importantly however, the population levels reached into the hundreds of millions. While the Alliance High Command anticipated that a decent majority of the population was hostile to the invaders, the imposition of slavery and the colony's proximity to the Terminus Systems meant that the remainder was heavily militarised. Millions of troops would be required to take the colony, and they would have to remain while an extensive sweep was done to insure that enemy combatants did not begin campaigns of terrorism from within the population.

The campaign would be divided into three operations.

_Operation Scipio_

The first move for the Alliance would require both an overwhelming naval attack and planetstrike operation, both to be undertaken simultaneously.

Anhur's orbital defences were weak, as they were designed exclusively around combat against craft no larger than the small cruisers that were often independently constructed in the Terminus Systems. The Alliance Navy possessed vessels with defences and weapons far in excessive of anything in orbit over the colony. However, a large naval task force would still be required to strike a decisive blow in a single day, as the Eagle Nebula possessed no small number of other garden worlds on which to hide. The shipyards at Korlus, where many of the spacecraft used by the Terminus pirates were constructed or salvaged, would have to be destroyed to prevent their use by the enemy. Na'hesit airbases, space stations and defence satellites would also have to be brought to ruin, along with the corvette and frigate squadrons. These were not second-rate equipment by the standards of the day. This was particularly true of the starships, which possessed the exact same torpedo technology employed by the Alliance, the same that had devastated the Batarian First Fleet at Elysium. This part of the operation was codenamed Aegates.

While the Navy conducted their actions, the Army would commence the actual planetstrike operation, codenamed Carthage. The orbital assault divisions of the six legions chosen for the campaign would attack together, landing en masse by assault pod and planetary assault titans. Once the landing zones were secure, heavy lift shuttles would then land the armoured divisions, while troop ships deployed the infantry and sappers. The whole initial task force would advance quickly out of their initial beachheads and aggressively attack any enemy positions they could find with the support of fighter-bombers and missile artillery. The rear areas would be built up and the rest of the task force landed, a task expected to take several weeks due to the huge numbers of troops and equipment required for the campaign. The overall objective of Carthage, and indeed Scipio itself, was to secure a single continent within the time scale of a month, and prepare it as the springboard off of which the entire planet would fall to the Alliance.

There was some debate as to which continent should be attacked first. Some of the military leadership argued for a direct assault on the continent containing the planetary capital, ignoring the main front of the fighting between colonial forces and the rebellion to cut the head directly off the snake. This was not viable for a number of reasons. The capitol provinces were the most heavily fortified on the planet, particularly with regard to anti-aircraft and anti-spacecraft defences. This meant that a heavy orbital bombardment would be required to soften up the landing zones sufficiently to land armoured forces. The potential civilian casualties and the perception that such a move would be abandoning the rebellion ruled out the plan on political grounds. The unsuitability of such a location as the staging ground for the invasion of the other continents also eliminated the possibility from a military perspective.

It was soon decided that the best landing zones were on the northern continent, called Uralis by humans. It was furthest from the heartlands of the enemy, but it provided the easiest access to all the other continents and at the time of the decision, was the most distant from the rebellion's conventional fighting. It was also mostly made up of tundra or cold-temperate terrain, ideal conditions for the majority of the Alliance's equipment and familiar to its soldiers. However, the Na'hesit's offensives soon pushed the abolitionist CoF forces back across the planet until the only conventional warfare under way was in Uralis. Intelligence reports from the Eclipse mercenaries were extremely critical of the rebels capabilities and strategy. By the time these problems came to light, it was too late to change the plan, and so it was expected that the initial attack would meet concentrated resistance.

_Operation Pompey_

The next phase of the invasion would see the majority of the naval elements withdraw to shore up the blockade of the core colonies of the Hegemony, while the Army went on the offensive again. The adjacent continents to Uralis, New Cilicia and Al-Kheb, would be invaded and occupied. The invasions would proceed along the island chains connecting the target areas to the beachhead, before striking the mainlands directly. Three legions were to strike each target, providing overwhelming superiority of numbers and sheer mass of firepower to the attackers.

The attacks themselves were to follow the example of the initial attack. Orbital and aerial assault units were to be sent in first, on board titans and aircraft, to secure beachheads. These would be followed up with greater and greater numbers transported by shuttle and troopships. Resistance in these areas was expected to be light at first, as the many of the units that could be used to defend the coastlines and possible landing zones were stationed in Uralis to fight the rebels, and the Alliance assault was expected to eliminate them. Despite this prediction of a good start to the operation, it was expected to take as long as seven months to complete by the most pessimistic appraisal. Every continent had a sizeable number of troops and equipment, in order to keep ideas of slave uprisings at bay. These were not poorly-armed conscripts, having excellent training and equipment at their disposal. The terrain also did not help. New Cilicia was heavily forested in places despite being one of the two agricultural hubs of the colony, and Al-Kheb possessed large deserts and a band of jungle running along the equator of the planet.

Aside from the plans for the initial attacks on each of the continents, the orders for proceeding beyond that point were left entirely to the discretion of the Supreme Allied Commander. The reason for this flexibility was simple. Intelligence on what the Na'hesit would do and how they would fight such an overwhelming foe was entirely absent. The slavers fought a very tidy anti-insurgent campaign in their rear areas, and a turian-textbook perfect campaign against the CoF's own conventional forces. Alliance planners very much doubted their enemies would stick to such strategic thinking, as it would undoubtedly result in their swift defeat.

_Operation Augustus_

Once Al-Kheb and New Cilicia were captured, the final assault against the capital's continent, Waset, would commence in earnest. Waset was flanked by the small continent of Dahshur, which would also be seized. The scenery of the place would deceive the civilian eye into believing the continent undefended. This was deliberate, not only for strategic purposes but also as a public relations tool. A colony that openly looked like a fortress would not reap rewards for that perspective rooting itself in the minds of investors, who often translated preparations as indicators of risk. This meant that many of the Na'hesit's defences in Waset were constructed in total secrecy, disguised as civilian buildings or placed underground in hardened bunkers. The exact extent of these defences was unknown to the Alliance, as even the human leaders had refused to hand over plans to their government when relations were good. Planners were deeply pessimistic about the prospects of assaulting such a position without naval support, but they were overruled by both the Minister for Defence and the Field Marshal to command the effort. Ideas about starving or bombarding the continent into submission were rejected. The capital would be taken by assault.

The manpower required to attack Waset was the sole reason for the commitment of six whole legions' worth of troops, an invasion force unprecedented in the history of humanity until that point and ranking among the largest the galaxy has ever seen. Thirty six million soldiers of all classes and occupations in total, representing more than 10% of all Alliance Army personnel, were to be committed to the campaign. Only about half of these were combat troops, and only half of them were assault units suited to sustained offensive action. Such numbers were required not only because of the formidable fixed defences that intelligence analysts predicted the existence of, but also due to the huge numbers of enemy combatants expected to be found. The best of the colonial government's troops were expected to be held in reserve at the capital as well.

The time allotted for the final push was also extensive. Despite Waset being the second-smallest continent, taking control of it was expected to take four months, leaving the successful conclusion of the campaign right up to the wire. The deadline for the military access treaty with the salarians would arrive just two weeks after the projected end of active combat operations on Anhur. Fighting after that would require the Alliance to resupply their forces via the Terminus Systems, either by convoys or by private means. However, due to the brilliance and aggression of its commander, as well as the luck and insight of a lieutenant, Augustus and the whole Anhur campaign would finish far more quickly than even the most optimistic projections had predicted.

* * *

STRATEGY FOR DEFENCE

Anhur's principal system of defence was a huge series of fortifications across the major inhabited continents, concentrating with proximity to the major population centres and the robotic-mining installations. These included structures both above and below ground. They housed a full complement of fortified machinegun nests, anti-aircraft weapons, and with the outbreak of war between the Systems Alliance and the Hegemony, heavy artillery emplacements were added. Some of the bunkers extended for miles, connected by service tunnels and capable of holding out for years if need-be. Most were far less extensive, protecting junctions, maglev stations, and other strategic points. These were extremely cheap to create using existing civilian mining equipment, and Anhur had been carpeted with such defences by the time of the assault.

However, relying on fixed defences had obvious drawbacks and the Corporate Congress was well aware of them. The bunkers were primarily aimed at deterring and defeating pirates and raiders, whom could be relied upon to strike at the weakest targets with the largest potential payoff. This made predicting when and where such invaders would strike very easy, and the layout of the defences reflected this even as late as 2176. They had proved extremely useful in the role they had been designed for, but the military advisors of the colonial government had warned that they would be entirely inadequate should a professional military attempt an invasion. At the time, this referred more to Illium than humanity.

Highly mobile light troops were already at the core of the Na'hesit's paramilitaries, again with the pirates in mind as their opponents. These forces were greatly expanded during the building crisis that became the Anhur Rebellion. The grand strategic vision for any potential invasion was to use their mobility to strike blows at the invaders while using the fixed defences as safepoints to rally tired troops and resupply. This was called "Spear and Shield" by the Corporate Congress' strategists, and regular exercises engrained the philosophy into the ordinary soldier to the very lowest rank. These forces were later reinforced in numbers as the crisis deepened, and armed with as many heavier weapons as could be obtained. In addition to the weapons given over on lend-lease by the Hegemony, more modern weapons were also purchased from the turians and asari.

The Rebellions started with irregular attacks on installations and terrorist attacks of varying kinds. While the latter was random and of no great strategic consequence to the defence, the former put large amounts of arms in the hands of the Coalition of the Free, and on the continent of Uralis, the entirety of the bunker complexes had been captured intact. This greatly complicated the strategy for the defence of the planet. With the imposition of slavery, the threat of invasion was higher than ever before, as human anger at the measures reached fever pitch. At the same time, the planet was never more vulnerable. Its economy was disrupted by the unrest and later the open warfare. Any inability to maintain order might see the colonial charter of establishment revoked by the Citadel Council. Most crucially however, with large tracts of territory in rebel hands, any Alliance assault would have an uncontested landing zone, from which the entire planet could be brought to heel.

With all these factors in mind, the Corporate Congress planners laid out a three stage plan to achieve victory.

First of all, the Rebellion would have to be defeated in detail. Several regions would have to be retaken from the CoF as soon as possible, to prevent their use by the Alliance. These would be attacked in order of proximity to the capital, with the batarian rebel control of Dahshur to be liquidated first, followed up by Al-Kheb, New Cilicia and finally, Uralis itself. In the months between the outbreak of the Second Verge War and the invasion, the Corporate Congress had huge success in carrying out this part of the plan. Open resistance in Dahshur collapsed almost as soon as corporate forces arrived to destroy it, although that theatre of combat was where the CoF had the least men and matériel at their disposal. The next few months saw the front lines pushed across the planet, until only Uralis stood as the last bastion of the abolitionist cause, despite the best efforts of Eclipse mercenaries and the Anhur Republican Army. That territory was attacked with considerable force before the Alliance could arrive, and the offensive there would prove a key factor in the outcome of the campaign to come.

Once the entire planet was in their hands, the Na'hesit would attempt to open negotiations with the Alliance while strengthening their capabilities in space. Modelled on the Alliance Navy itself, more frigates and torpedo corvettes would be bought up from Korlus and other Terminus shipyards. More bunkers would also be constructed planetside. The Corporate Congress was not under the illusion that they could convince the Alliance to halt their invasion, but hoped that they could buy enough time to make any attack too costly to proceed with.

Lastly, when the inevitable invasion came, the objective would be to cause as many casualties as possible. Landing areas were to be surrounded and attacked immediately, troop transports and assault cruisers were to be prioritised for hit and run manoeuvres in space, and any attempt to cause the enslaved populace to rise up would be met with absolute force. All the while, continual offers of ceasefire and peaceful resolution of the differences between the two warring parties would be given, in an attempt to outflank the militarists in the Alliance Parliament and redirect the war's focus towards the Hegemony itself. These plans would not come to pass, and never got past the drawing board, as the invasion itself arrived before the rebellion's military forces could be defeated. The consequences for the defenders would be devastating.


	21. ANHUR: The Commanders

THE COMMANDERS

**Field Marshal Cassandra DeRuyter**_, Supreme Allied Commander, Eagle Nebula Expeditionary Forces, Provisional Military Governor of Anhur_

The name Cassandra DeRuyter stands as exceptional in the rolls of honour for the great generals of human history. Before the Reaper War, she was compared with Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, W.T. Sherman, Erwin Rommel, and Yuri Vladormirovic. After the Reaper War, no historical comparison has seemed appropriate, to historians or the general public. Without her, the day would have undoubtedly been lost and the galaxy wiped clean of advanced organic life for another fifty thousand years. The Reapers themselves would have continued their dread harvest. In the course of her life, she fought every enemy that has ever presented itself against the Systems Alliance. Her later campaigns are perhaps better known, but it was on Anhur that she first came to the attention of the galactic public.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Union of African States, DeRuyter's military career began with the last stages of the Sahara Insurgency. There, as a young lieutenant, she demonstrated the traits that would define her career; aggression, virtuosity and cunning. In 2155, on her first tour, she led her mechanised platoon on a lightning pacification campaign in Northern Sudan, liberating seven settlements in three days from heavily-armed zealots formerly aligned with the Pan-Asian Coalition. Her unit became a constituent part of the newly formed African 3rd Colonial Infantry Division with the consolidation of the best units into the Alliance order of battle, and she spent 2156 between Earth and the new colonies. During this time, she rose to command a company.

In the aftermath of the Battle at Relay 314, her division was moved to Shanxi just before the turian invasion. Puzzlingly to historians, her combat records dated to the First Contact War remain sealed for unknown reasons, despite having survived the massive losses of data caused by the invasions of Earth and the destruction of both Arcturus and Luna stations. After Shanxi, DeRuyter took an extended leave of absence for family reasons, returning to duty in 2160. She was rapidly promoted upon her return, not only due to her own prowess but also due to the Alliance's extreme need for officers with the combat experience she had. By 2165, she commanded her division. With the colonial conflict with the batarians well under way, she had her units posted to the most dangerous combat zones, repelling multiple pirate and slaver attacks over the next five years.

It was the aftermath of Mindoir that propelled her position to the highest rank in the Alliance military. With the help of cooperative elements of the Navy, she formulated and executed a strategic plan to seize several independent colonies and resource-rich worlds in the Skyllian Verge. The operations went off without a single hitch, and unusually low casualties despite some significant resistance. In the inter-war years, DeRuyter commanded the Tenth Legion under Troop Command Afrika, which was responsible for a sector of the defence of colonies along the border with the Terminus Systems. When word of the plan to attack Elysium reached Consul Taro, she immediately promoted the South African again, this time to Field Marshal. DeRuyter was assigned to plan and lead the assault on Anhur, as well as the general campaign against the Eagle Nebula to come, a task for which she was the perfect candidate.

**Colonel-General Oleg Petrovsky**_, Commanding Officer, XIII Legion_

DeRuyter's direct subordinate commanding the 13th Legion, Petrovsky is infamous for commanding the military forces of Cerberus between 2183 and 2186, most notably including the Occupation of Omega. A corporal in the First Contact War, he successfully commanded his unit after its officers had been killed by the turians in a last-stand, resulting in a successive evacuation and the start of his eye-watering fast rise in the ranks of the Alliance Army. Of all the legion commanders on Anhur, he is worthy of particular mention for two reasons.

First of these is the trust Field Marshal DeRuyter had in him and his unit. The 13th would be selected for the toughest operational theatres, where the most capable enemy commanders were located or where there were unavoidable fixed defences that required both finesse and brute force to overcome. He demonstrated superlative knowledge of offensive, defensive and counterinsurgency operations during the campaign, organising feats of military action that would place him among the great generals of history had it not been for his later defection to Cerberus. In light of his actions and the events to come however, it was perhaps inevitable that he would not remain loyal to the Alliance.

The second reason that Petrovsky is noteworthy when speaking about the invasion of Anhur was the standing order he would issue to his legion in secret upon its landing. Taking his cue from several great generals in human history, he would order that records of slaveholders were to be seized at every opportunity, the persons in questions rounded up, and executions held to prevent them from beginning guerilla campaigns in the rear areas of the invasion force. This was done with the full knowledge and approval of both the Field Marshal and the Alliance government, but it was Petrovsky who would face the blame when word of it reached the Citadel. With the benefit of hindsight and from a purely military perspective, the order was entirely correct despite its brutality. Surviving former slaverholders did indeed start terrorist campaigns both during and after the invasion, and more often than not ended up dead regardless, often after killing thousands of innocents.

**Lieutenant Karla Haider**_, Air Assault Brigade, 25__th__ Panzergrenadier Division, 2__nd__ Cohort, XXI Legion_

At the start of the invasion, no one could have predicted that its rapid success lay in the hands not only of its command staff, but also with an air assault lieutenant on her first tour of duty. Karla Haider was unusual in many respects. Born as Karla von Habsburg, she was the heir-pretender to the throne of Austria, and had all the education and illustrious career opportunities that such a status brought. Despite a glittering and wealthy civilian life lying ahead of her, she joined the Alliance military under her German mother's maiden name in Munich. It became apparent very quickly that she could read any opponent like an open book, almost always being able to predict their moves before they could be made. As a result, she was selected early on to enter the EU Air Assault School in Scotland, whereafter she could join units that could exploit this capability quickly in battle.

She was assigned to the EU 25th Panzergrenadier Division under the German 21st Legion, which was one of the strategic commands assigned to the Anhur Campaign after the outbreak of the Rebellions and the batarian attack on Elysium. In the course of the campaign, her unit would perform admirably in all respects, particularly in the interdiction of slaver death squads that operated in areas that the enemy expected to be liberated. Both her platoon and herself would be awarded with high honours for these actions, but it was her own instinct and clarity of vision that would bring her unit to a coup against the Corporate Congress that doomed them to utter defeat in half the planned time.

* * *

"**_General Sickle"_**_, Commanding Officer, Anhur Protection Forces_

The identity of the officer commanding the Corporate Congress' paramilitary and mercenary forces was and remains unknown to history. When Anhur's rulers made the decision to emulate Illium's systematic indentured servitude, there was an expectation of some unrest and possibly intervention from Illium itself via the Eclipse mercenaries. To prepare their forces and lead their troops, the records show that they hired an experienced military mind, and gave him or her full control over how to run the defence of the planet. Despite this, some believe that Sickle was in fact more than one person, given the variety of techniques they fell back on during the course of the campaign. The name Sickle came about as a result of DeRuyter's own strategy of spearhead attacks and envelopment of the enemy, as the defending general almost without fail ordered counterattacks against the rear of advancing formations, hence 'cutting like Sickle' became a term for such manoeuvres.

Despite the exact identity of the person being a mystery, several very well educated guesses have been made over the years as to other details. It is certain that Sickle had most likely had fought turians extensively or was a turian, as his or her initial defensive strategy reflected the military ideology of the Hierarchy closely. Discipline in defence and relentless forward movement along entire lines in offence were hallmarks of the style, as well as the grouping and separation of biotic soldiers into specialised units much like the turian cabal system. Many believe that Sickle was an asari, as the latter units were used in an identical fashion to the famed asari commandos. Others believe he or she was a salarian, given the extensive behind-the-lines actions that occurred in the aftermath of Alliance forces seizing the regions. A small number believe that Sickle was human, due to the diversity of techniques, but this has been dismissed by most.


	22. ANHUR: The Opposing Forces

THE OPPOSING FORCES

_THE SYSTEMS ALLIANCE_

In 2176, Anhur ranked as one of the most populous human colonies despite its lack of a sovereign backer, its location within the western sectors of the Terminus Systems, and the sharing of the world with batarian settlers. Several hundred million lived there, and this presented the Systems Alliance with a number of problems. The pool of manpower available to the defence was larger on Anhur than on any other world seized by humanity before, and there was no shortage of weapons to arm them with.

Compounding this was the unknown loyalties of the population itself. Many batarian dissidents lived on the planet, whose loyalty to the Hegemony was non-existent and some of whom were openly hostile to their "mother" nation. These dissidents also fought on both sides of the Rebellion. Alongside were those affiliated to the merchant houses of Khar'shan, fanatically loyal to the cause. Those influenced by their human neighbours sided with the Coalition of the Free. Those who thought the Hegemony was weak under Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra supported the slavers along with those wishing to protect their wealth. The loyalists supported the Corporate Congress to a man. In general, batarians were split along class lines, with serf and worker castes mostly supporting the rebellion and merchant castes and upwards siding against it, but even this was a poor indicator of how to determine an individual's loyalties. Batarian serfs could often be loyal to their masters as a result of their religious beliefs, and the batarian merchant classes all the way up to the nobility were to buy the propaganda of their fellows entirely.

The humans of Anhur were no less troublesome. Aside from the huge number of economic migrants, whom made up the bulk of the Anhur Republican Army's base support, there were also numerous political dissenters; anti-Alliance extremists, nationalists from the former countries of the old Pan-Asian Coalition on Earth, libertarians and anarcho-capitalist groups whom wanted to escape Alliance regulations and laws. These fought for both sides as well, with some political groupings splitting when the rebellion began. The only organised factions that consistently fought for the Rebellion, with none of their number fighting against it, were groups aligned with the Terra Firma Party and Cerberus. However, the human supremacists fought for the removal of the batarian population and would often attempt to ethnically cleanse areas where they were stationed. This would present another issue in its own right to any occupying army. Considerably more humans than batarians fought for the rebellion, but more than half of the mercenaries employed by the Corporate Congress were human as well.

After heated arguments on the subject within her circle of advisors, Field Marshal DeRuyter decided that local forces could not be relied upon at all. This would mean two things. The Alliance would have to do the real fighting with the help of the Eclipse mercenaries alone, and both the rebel factions would have to be disarmed. Both tasks would require at least a display of force, and the size of the population and their political leanings dictated a huge number of troops. No less than thirty six million would be assigned to the campaign, more than 10% of the Alliance Army's total active service personnel, making the invasion the largest in human history until the Great Upheaval of 2184. Thankfully, with the successful conclusion of the colonial campaigns in the Verge, many formations had gained valuable combat experience and were available to fight, as reserves took up their occupation duties.

Alongside the Navy's contribution, the Army assigned six legions to the campaign from two of its three strategic commands. All six contained veteran formations, each was a self-contained army in their own right, having at their disposal all the personnel needed to fight independent theatre-level actions. Only about half of all personnel were combat troops, but every single man and woman in the invasion force was trained for the fight should it come, and on Anhur, it inevitably would. For the purposes of the invasion, the troops were divided by their legion's strategic command. Every legion contained thirty task forces of ten combat divisions each, with other troops organised according to their roles.

_**Eagle Nebula Expeditionary Forces - Troop Command Afrika **_

From Troop Command Afrika, the Army's administrative command covering the Union of African States and their colonies, the three legions assigned to the campaign were the elite Tenth and Fourteen Legions from South Africa and Kenya respectively, as well as the battle-hardened Thirty-Second Legion from Ethiopia and Somalia. These troops would fall under the command of the Tenth Legion's leader, Colonel-General Nandi Botha, a veteran commander who had fought with DeRuyter since the beginning of her career and a fierce warrior in her own right. All were equipped with excellent equipment, and morale was solid among the troops, confident in the cause to which they had pledged their lives and honour. Each of the legions was taken directly from the end of another successful campaign in the Verge colonies, all of which had required hostile landings in the face of substantial naval and surface-to-space defences.

The Tenth Legion had a relatively easy assignment during the rush for the Verge, as it had been assigned to capture the batarian garden world of Khar'lilitam, literally translated as "The Great Beach". Despite the name, resistance was initially heavy on the world, as the population was made up primarily of higher caste batarians, many of whom had lost relatives in the nuclear strikes during Operation Tora. Khar'lilitam's more opulent settlements had themselves been hit with low-yield nuclear weapons during that bid to provoke total war, hardening opinion against the Alliance there. However, as essentially a touristic world, it had few heavy weapons despite its large population, and the combat operations soon gave way to police operations. The Tenth was selected for its high discipline, its availability, and its soldiers' close relationship to the Supreme Allied Commander, who knew she could trust in them.

The Fourteenth Legion had been assigned to mop up non-terrestrial worlds and the not-quite-right worlds that the Hegemony had liked to claim despite the huge effort was actually required to live there. As such, it fought in hostile environments during the Verge rush, mounting heavy attacks on well-fortified bases, artificial environments and biospheres on worlds that the Alliance wouldn't have bothered colonising in the first place. In these tasks, they performed admirably despite no extraordinary training being undertaken for its troops, and they were selected because of their experience attacking fixed positions, of which Anhur had many.

The Thirty-Second Legion finished the worst of the fighting in the Verge before it was assigned to Anhur. It had taken the world of Dar'lokhan from the batarians, the planet that housed headquarters and proving grounds of the Hegemony's Verge Strategic Command. In the wake of Elysium, where that army had been utterly destroyed by Alliance forces, conscripts were gathered and augmented by a huge number of batarian fanatics volunteering to replace the dead. Although not a decisive turning point in the war, it was among the most bloody battles fought. The legion had to fight wave after wave of batarian attacks, across plains, forests and deserts, contending with hostile wildlife and extreme weather conditions. Despite these obstacles, the fighting ended as quickly as anywhere else, and the Thirty-Second was combat ready just in time for planetstrike on Anhur.

_**Eagle Nebula Expeditionary Forces – Troop Command Europa**_

Troop Command Europa is the administrative command for formations originating in EU-governed Eurasia, its colonies, and EU allies. It provided three of its own legions for the campaign. The Fifth Legion, fresh from their victory at Elysium, was joined by the "rebel" Thirteenth Legion and the specialist Twenty First Legion, all originating from "Old Europe". These would be led by Colonel-General Oleg Petrovsky, the commanding officer of the Thirteenth Legion. Petrovsky was chosen for this task in the aftermath of Elysium as General Orzeski had made it known he intended to retire once the Fifth Legion's task there was complete. His temporary replacement, Colonel-General Fremont, did not have the same confidence, opening the door to the future commander of Cerberus ground forces. Like the legions assigned from Troop Command Afrika, the equipment of these legions was excellent. However, the mood of the soldiers was unusual. Rather than the quiet, professional confidence seen in the other three legions, these soldiers were out for blood. Throughout the ranks, this would become evident as the campaign progressed. Very few prisoners would be taken by the soldiers of these legions.

Another difference with the three European legions was the experience each had with the war so far.

The Fifth Legion, or Legio V Europa, was and is the first of Europe's multi-national contributions to the Alliance Army, and is one of the most competent formations in the entirety of humanity's order of battle. Prior to mustering out for the invasion of Anhur, the legion had defeated the batarians at Elysium and spent the intervening months hunting down stray batarian groups on that colony, as well as aiding in rescue and rebuilding efforts. Despite its losses, even the now-famous Task Force Wizna was ready by the time the call to arms had come again, and the soldiers of Wizna's orbital assault division would be the first troops on the ground when the invasion began.

By contrast, the Thirteenth Legion, or Legio XIII Borealis, had spent the entirety of the war on Eden Prime. Consisting of troops drawn from Northern Europe and Canada, the legion was long considered urban and mountain assault specialists, but their real talent was for fixing problems with brute force. Their duty had been to guard their country's most valuable colony from pirate attacks, which the Navy swatted away with contempt before anything could land. Contrary to expectations, this simply made the soldiers of the legion more eager for the fight, encouraged by their commander, who insured that they were trained for the most brutal combat imaginable. This thirst for battle and the particular training regimen was noticed by Field Marshal DeRuyter, who insisted on having both the Thirteenth and Petrovsky at her side for the campaign. The troops were delighted by the news, and were impatient to get to the fight. This resolve would not waver throughout, even as the legion took the heaviest casualties of the entire campaign.

The Twenty-First Legion, or Legio XXI Germania, was staffed with troops from the European member-state of Germany and its colonies. It had been reorganised in 2172 as an experiment in "next generation" warfare. Its combat units consisted entirely of armoured, air assault and orbital assault divisions, all extremely mobile. The line infantry role was taken up by drones and mechs. The concept was a mixture of turian thought on rapid warfare and humanity's own fondness for the drone as a weapon of war. The hugely expensive Future Hovertank Project that eventually produced the StuG M-44 'Hammerhead' was originally started to provide this legion with a vehicle that could match its turian counterparts. Between Elysium and Anhur, the legion had been split up into its task forces, which were then independently assigned to aid other forces. One of these had been assigned to help the Thirty-Second Legion on Dar'lokhan, and had taken heavy losses of equipment. Others had seen greatly varying degrees of combat, and the separation of the units had caused great resentment. DeRuyter was a great believer in the legion's conceptual purpose, and brought the task forces back together to fight as a coherent theatre-level force once again. The soldiers of the 21st loved her for it, and she assigned them to the role they had trained for; rapid advances to capture huge swaths of territory, and save as many of the enslaved as possible.

_**Eagle Nebula Expeditionary Forces – The 'Grand' Second Fleet **_

To defeat the space forces at the disposal of the Anhur Corporate Congress, and to attack potential assets to their cause such as the shipyards at Korlus, DeRuyter was to work with the Second Fleet under Admiral Petra Hunt. The fleet had a sterling reputation. It was the Second Fleet under Kastanie Drescher that had liberated Shanxi in 2157, striking a decisive blow against the turians, helping to bring about the end of the First Contact War a month later. Their commander in 2176 had a more defensive mindset, one that concentrated on preserving his own forces while slowly bleeding his enemy dry. This was ideal against both the batarians and the forces that he would find orbiting Anhur, as both relied on quick and sharp attacks to cause maximum damage. In denying the enemy the opportunity, Hunt would starve any offensive plan of action against the invasion of oxygen.

The full fleet was assigned to the initial invasion for as long as it took to land all the Army's personnel, expected to be sixty days. During this period, the entire strength of the fleet would be present in-system, providing protection for the huge troopships that would be ferrying the truly massive number of soldiers that would participate in the campaign. The fleet was very well equipped for this role, possessing hundreds of ships of all classes, from frigates up until the newly-commissioned Niké-class carrier _Victoria _and the Thor-class dreadnought _Wotan_.

Once the invasion forces were on the ground, the fleet would split into three task groups. The capital ships, escort carriers and the heavy cruisers would return to the Skyllian Verge, to help maintain the stranglehold on the Hegemony's shipping lanes. A cruiser task group would be sent to Korlus to destroy any sign of shipbuilding there, to prevent the Corporate Congress from buying or building more ships off-world. Finally, several frigate wolfpacks would remain in orbit of Anhur to provide a protective screen and aid the invasion with sensory data collection.

_**Eclipse**_

The asari mercenary company based on Illium had been contracted by Consul Taro on the advice of Minister deBankole as soon as the Rebellion began, a contract that its leader Jona Sederis was happy to authorise. Anhur had been a growing thorn in the side of Illium, as a competitor in white, grey and black markets. Eclipse smuggling operations on the world had also been put down with utmost brutality in the years leading up to the invasion. The Corporate Congress tolerated no threat to their profit margins by asari criminal elements. Sederis, not the most level-headed person by any standard, was increasingly infuriated by Anhur's leadership. She attempted to throw money at the problem, but found a zero-tolerance policy on corruption as well, leading to the arrest and imprisonment of the middle management she had attempted to sway. It looked like the _Na'hesit_ had the upper hand, until the crisis began. When the Rebellion broke out and the Alliance offered no small amount of money to keep it alive, Sederis took the opportunity with a vengeful glee.

Several thousand Eclipse operatives were dispatched, the company using its talents for smuggling to bring in the forces without being detected, aided by sympathetic workers in the spaceports. Asari commandos and huntresses, salarian engineers and infiltration specialists, and human combat veterans were all employed by the company for the delaying operation. In the lead up the invasion, the Eclipse crippled several key supply stations and communications hubs, but despite their best efforts, they failed to halt the advance of Anhur's colonial forces across the continents. Their training of rebel forces in unconventional warfare was more successful, leading to a series of successful bombings and terrorist attacks behind corporate lines. These attacks were largely carried out by the batarian faction of the rebels, who could move among the enemy with less suspicion due to their homeworld's culture.

Eclipse operatives' opinion of the rebel armies was extremely negative. They sent regular reports to both their own superiors and the Alliance Defence Intelligence Directorate on the state of local friendly forces. These reports spoke about the factionalism between the two major players in the Rebellion, the Anhur Republican Army and the Na'kharit, as well as the divisions within each of those groups. The mercenaries had a very low tolerance for the horse trading and lack of central leadership in their allies' ranks, and often resorted to taking command of whole sectors of the front-line at gunpoint, in order to prevent the line crumbling entirely. Despite these problems, the Eclipse very nearly succeeded in maintaining the Coalition of the Free as a coherent fighting force. They would be richly rewarded for their part in the victory to come.

* * *

_THE ANHUR CORPORATE CONGRESS_

_**Anhur Protection Forces**_

The military forces of Anhur began as a series of heavily armed urban police forces, not unlike the pre-Reaper War C-Sec. With the colony destined to be shared between batarians and humans, two species with increasing animosity towards one another, the need for highly effective paramilitary forces under the aegis of the justice system was paramount. There were great fears that the two peoples could not live together peacefully, resulting in law and order becoming a huge priority for the Corporate Congress. To the surprise of all, inter-species relations on Anhur actually developed along far more friendly lines than in the Verge, a phenomenon that has been explained by the lack of competing expansionist governments. Indeed, one of the great achievements of Anhur's government was a legal prohibition on racial discrimination of any kind. They cultivated a world where humans and batarians actually liked each other, something thought impossible.

Despite this, the Congress' concerns about security were not lessened. Rather, their inter-community successes heightened their alertness. They had created something unique and highly profitable, and there were no small number of wolves in the wilderness circling, waiting to exploit any weakness. Chief among these were the asari of Illium and the pirate barons under Elanos Haliat, the former having been a powerhouse for centuries and jealous of any new player, the latter a rising power with contacts all over the galaxy and a close relationship with a highly militarised Hegemony. These threats required a reworking of the forces available to Anhur for its defence, and the reforms instituted would put the colony squarely at the top of the Terminus Systems' military rankings.

Like many independent worlds and would-be robber barons, the Corporate Congress looked to the pre-eminent power of the day for inspiration; the Turian Hierarchy. Turian tactical thinking had undergone somewhat of a change in the aftermath of their embarrassment at the hands of humanity. The relentless, across-the-front offensive strategy was still very much present, as was the hold-the-line attitude on the defensive, but a new element had been added as a result of turian experience on Shanxi. The new emphasis was on mobility and rapid envelopment actions, not quite on the level of humanity's spearhead-blitzkrieg tactics, but drawing from that theory. Paramilitary units were converted to military-quality formations, expanded in numbers, retrained in mobile tactics and fighting, and their equipment updated. The Corporate Congress bought equipment from all the major powers. Turian infantry fighting vehicles, human gunships, asari drone fighters, salarian scout vehicles and batarian heavy tanks. The result of this build up was an extremely well-equipped, large, and very confident army.

Nor was the defence of space ignored either. Defence satellites were placed in Anhur's orbit, capable of deterring large numbers of frigates and corvettes. Light cruisers were bought from asari shipyards, frigates rescued from the scrapheaps of Korlus and refitted, and large merchant vessels converted to escort carriers equipped to carry drone fighters. Although no match at all for the major navies of the galaxy, the space forces available to Anhur were the strongest single force in the Terminus Systems, outstripping even Illium's defence flotillas.

The Rebellion created a serious split in the Protection Forces. Twenty percent of batarians and fifty percent of humans in the force mutinied within days of the imposition of indentured servitude. Many escaped offworld in the chaos of the early days, taking their families with them. Still more began organising what became both the Anhur Republican Army and the Na'kharit. Despite this, the Protection Forces retained most of their heavy equipment, with the exception being anything that had been in Uralis at the start of the uprisings. Furthermore, between the formal declaration of war by the CoF on New Years' Day and the start of the Second Verge War, the Batarian Hegemony funnelled volunteer troops and mercenaries to the colony to bolster their forces. These were not the fanatics, but rather those suspected of dissent. The Hegemony emptied its ranks of so-called "defeatists" and anyone not expressing total loyalty to the cause. Those "volunteered" were quite happy to leave. With them went even more matériel.

By the date of the invasion, the Protection Forces were stronger than ever before. Exact troop numbers have been impossible to calculate, but it is thought that there were ten million humans, batarians and turian mercenaries under arms as professional soldiers on Anhur. Many more were armed and acted as militias to defend their homes in areas where the government retained loyalty. Most of their formations were on a par with those they would face in battle, but it would not save them. The sheer weight of numbers, the brutality and speed of the tactics employed against them, and the lack of space superiority were too much for the _Na'hesit_ forces to overcome.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: The troops numbers in each Alliance legion and in the Alliance Army in general are larger than I originally envisaged when I began writing BF2183, but this was a necessary ret-con. I have edited the prologue of the main story to reflect this, along with adding more accurate descriptions of the battles. The game's canon says that about 3% of humans under arms. There are 20 billion humans in my timeline, therefore there are 600 million humans in military service in some form. Note that this is considerably less than the turians. The organisation of these troops will be explained in a special chapter of this story, "The Alliance Army 2173-2183". _


	23. ANHUR: The Weapons

THE WEAPONS

Both sides of the conflict would employ a number very fine weapons of war, ideally suited for the fighting that was to come. Both sides used the M-8 Avenger Assault Rifle as their standard issue infantry weapon. The Alliance forces would deploy Riesig assault walkers and Orca main battle tanks in large numbers, as well as Agincourt-class frigates with EXALT weaponry in orbit. The Corporate Congress had Verush Heavy Tanks in its arsenal, and like the Alliance, issued all of its soldiers with kinetic barrier systems. At first glance, the combatants appear very much alike in their equipment's capabilities, pound for pound. However, both sides would also employ weapons never before tested against one another, a fact that drew the attention of the other galactic powers, which would keep a very close watch on the performance of the weapons in question.

_**Alliance: Mark IV Orbital Assault Titan**_

The assault titan had been in use with human military forces for fifty years by the time of the invasion of Anhur. First used in major combat operations during the Cold War, the last world conflict on Earth, titans are large flying fortresses, well-equipped with defensive and offensive armaments. Most are also capable of carrying a small squadron of gunships or combat transports. When the discovery of the mass effect brought about an early end to war on Earth, updating the design to take advantage of the new technology was a top priority for human planners. By the time of the First Contact War, titans had augmented their role with the capability of being dropped from low orbit during invasions. Their weapons were upgraded with mass-accelerators, EXALT weaponry and their defences were given a huge boost with the addition of kinetic barriers to their already formidable active defence systems.

The titans performed admirably on Shanxi, as well as on the few minor turian colonies the Alliance invaded during the last days of the First Contact War. The turians had no ground-based weapons that could deal with them. Their kinetic barriers were almost as strong as a cruiser's own, requiring infeasible amounts of artillery fire to bring down. The only weapon they were immediately vulnerable to was disruptor torpedoes and missiles, which themselves could be shot down by the active defences of the target titan most of the time. Human forces had long preferred temporarily disrupting the shielding of titans and boarding them to destroy or disable their reactor cores. All soldiers in human armies were trained to do this, often using boarding pods launched from armoured personnel carriers to infiltrate the target titans.

By 2176, a new model with a modular design had entered service. The Mark IV Orbital Assault Titan was the first of its kind that could re-enter low orbit without the aid of a lift-shuttle. It was larger than previous models by half, and sported almost twice as many weapons. There were two variants, the Mark IVa and the IVb. Both had most of their features in common: A command information centre, a well armoured hull, a small gunship hanger, a shielded reactor core, point and active defence systems, a GARDIAN battery and gatling mass-accelerators for AA duties, EXALT missile launchers along the back for anti-ship and anti-titan work, and arrays of 155mm and 40mm gatling mass-accelerator cannons along the belly for ground attack.

The IVa was the most common variant, designed for transporting infantry companies and a mix of both gunships and combat transports. Along its sides, it had assault pod launchers to shower enemy positions with infantry, that could then attack from the flanks and rear under the cover of the titan's guns. The IVb replaced its command and control and habitation modules for more cargo space. This model was used for deploying large numbers of Riesig assault walkers and gunships. Hundreds of both types would be deployed to Anhur, dropped from the planetary assault cruisers of the Alliance Navy and bearing within them the orbital assault divisions of the Alliance Army. They would perform excellently, and the Corporate Congress' forces were often at a loss when they faced the machines in numbers. GARDIAN batteries proved most effective, but these were soon earmarked as priority targets for Alliance air and artillery strikes, leaving the battlefield a hunting ground for these behemoths of the sky.

_**Alliance: M-57 Groundhog II Armoured Personnel Carrier**_

The M-57 armoured personnel carrier was introduced in 2157, after a lengthy design competition between several Earth arms manufacturers for the Alliance Army's standardisation programme. Prior to its introduction, human military forces used a large variety of armoured transports and armoured cars. This presented a programme for maintenance and resupply when national military units were consolidated under Alliance command. At first, this was tolerated, but a corruption scandal in 2154 created a political push for cost efficiency in the military.

Designed by Assegai Armour, the M-57 was an updated version of the AMV-2 Groundhog that saw service with European and African armies in the Cold War. It shared nearly half of its parts with the older machine including its chassis. This made it extraordinarily cheap to produce, and with the majority of Alliance Army troops already using the predecessor model, the infrastructure to train troops to use it was already in place. However, it was a far more capable machine than its ancestor, both in its defences and in its offensive purpose.

The vehicle itself consists of a heavily armoured hull with sloped composite plating and six plated wheels. The engine of the old Groundhog was replaced with a more powerful yet more compact version, allowing the inclusion of a mass effect core to reduce or increase the weight of the vehicle somewhat, allowing far greater mobility overall. The two-man crew consisted of a driver and commander, and the transport capacity was a four-man squad in the rear compartment. This was less than traditional designs, but each member of the attached squad was seated in an assault pod that could launch hundreds of feet into the air and travel almost a full mile if necessary to land behind or in the midst of the enemy, or if required, onto an enemy titan. Its armaments originally consisted of four 7.62mm light machineguns controlled by the passengers, a grenade launcher along with another 7.62mm machinegun aimed by the driver, and a 12.7mm "fifty cal" heavy machinegun with a heavy mortar controlled by the commander. Before the First Contact War, these weapons were all caseless chemical-projectile types, but would be updated afterwards. Its defence was originally an active defence system only, but this would later be joined by kinetic barriers.

The Groundhog II performed excellently on Shanxi and elsewhere during the First Contact War, but the conflict exposed certain flaws in the design as well. Aside from some weaknesses in the defence systems that allowed turian anti-tank missiles to successfully knock out vehicles, it was found that the design did not have adequate armament. After the armistice, all the weapons were replaced with mass-accelerators, allowing a greater rate of fire and less ammunition consumption. Furthermore, a variant was created that added a short-barrel 155mm mass-accelerator cannon in a remote-control turret, the same type that was eventually added to the Riesig Assault Walkers in later models.

The vehicle saw no action on Mindoir, as almost all examples of the model were destroyed by batarian orbital and artillery bombardments on Alliance bases in the opening hours of the raid. The rest of the First Verge War saw deployments across the Skyllian Verge, where the Groundhog was used extensively and found to be highly effective. Elysium was no different, and the APCs ferried huge numbers of Alliance troops on their way to the fight, as well as ferrying civilians away from it. Despite these experiences, the vehicle was best used on the offensive, where it turned from a useful tool into a decisive, battle-winning weapon. Anhur was perhaps the best demonstration of this, as its assault pods and multiple anti-personnel weapons were given free reign.

_**Alliance: A-61 Mantis Gunship**_

In the 2160s, the threat of war with the Batarian Hegemony was growing and the Alliance military successfully lobbied the notoriously fiscal-minded Parliament under Consul Anka Gasperi for new equipment. The reason for this success was the aging tools of both the Army and the Navy. The cost of maintaining equipment was becoming egregious, even with humanity's love affair for modular design. There were also serious questions raised over whether or not pre-First Contact equipment was any deterrence at all to the other powers of the galaxy. While many of humanity's weapons had been highly effective against turian forces, not least EMP weapons on the ground and EXALT weapons in space, others had performed extremely poorly. Nowhere else was this most apparent than in the area of gunships.

Until 2170, the Alliance used the Cold-War era BAE Systems UD-4 Talon, a highly capable weapons platform with excellent performance that had a single drawback; it did not utilise mass effect technology. Almost all of the gunships of this type deployed against the turians were shot down, either by enemy gunships or by ground fire. Its record against pirates and slavers was only marginally better, and the pilots of the craft had to rely on beyond-the-horizon missile weapons or high-speed strafing runs to remain alive. In the first military appropriations bill during Gasperi's first term, a replacement project for the Talon was given generous funding. The project was to be cooperatively planned by all bidding contractors under the direction of the Alliance Army Airforce Command. It was this that would produce the A-61 Mantis.

The Mantis has a 1 + 1 crew arrangement of gunner and pilot sitting one behind the other, surrounded by an armoured hull and reinforced 'crysteel' glass. Its engines are fully articulate, allowing for vectored thrust in almost any direction, making the craft extremely manoeuvrable. Its mass effect core allows it to act as a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane if required, though its performance in vacuum is limited as it does not have an FTL drive like a true fighter does. In-atmosphere however, it is unmatched in its roles. The standard equipment of all variants includes kinetic barriers, an active defence system, ECM and ECCM, and a nose-mounted weapon, most commonly dual M350 machineguns.

The Mantis can be outfitted to almost any role, modular-construction and design playing its usual part in human military thinking. In Alliance service, there are five models. The most common is the ground-attack variant, the Mantis-A, mounting precision-kill rockets in pods under the winglets and laser-guided bombs in an underside bomb-bay. The Mantis-B is outfitted for air supremacy, replacing its nose mounted machineguns for a longbarrel 40mm gatling mass-accelerator, carrying air-to-air and anti-orbital missiles and stripping out the rear compartment entirely to reduce weight. The Mantis-C's role is troop transport, retaining the weapons of the Mantis-A except for the bomb-bay, which is replaced by a passenger hold that can carry up to eight troops in an elongated hull section under the 'hump' of the craft. The Mantis-D carries a single assault walker in a clamp behind the cockpit, again stripping out the rear-compartment to accommodate it. The Mantis-E is a tank hunter variant, mounting two long barrel 155mm cannons under the winglets, a 40mm gatling cannon in the nose, and two EXALT missiles on the underside of the hull for cracking heavily shielded targets.

The gunship is a popular export, and it saw service with almost all armies and mercenary groups in the galaxy, with the exception of the krogan, whom cannot fit in the cockpit. All five types would see heavy service on Anhur. The Corporate Congress had no small number of the Mantis A itself serving in the ground-attack role, but the Alliance would field orders of magnitude more of the weapon in all its types, most famously under the command of Lieutenant Haider.

_**Alliance: Omni-blade &amp; Omni-bayonet**_

Perhaps the most telling indicator of the brutality of the combat on Anhur was the role played by hand-to-hand fighting in the course of the campaign. By 2176, the personal kinetic barrier had become cheap and reliably effective at stopping a variety of small arms, leading to the defence becoming extremely commonplace. The faster firing weapons of the Geth War era and beyond had not been developed to counteract this trend, and disruptor mods for standard assault weapons remained extremely uncommon. What this meant in effect was that it was possible for either massed attacks or infantry advancing through cover to close with the enemy to the very smallest of distances. The batarians themselves had long predicted such a situation, using it both to justify the casualties of their wave tactics and to its true potential for winning battles. Most batarian soldiers were issued with swords or maces by 2176, as they were expected to use them. The Alliance's solution to the problem was only slightly more elegant.

After the hand-to-hand combat during the action in the New Omaha Pocket on Mindoir, the Army ordered the mass issue of close combat weapon programmes to all soldiers carrying omnitools, which effectively meant every combat-rated soldier that wasn't a biotic and every tech now had an extremely deadly blade at their disposal. In 2175, these were augmented with a new invention, the omni-bayonet, which attached easily to any weapon from the huge Rorsch Anti-Materiel Rifle to the concealable pistols carried by rear-echelon personnel. Both types manufactured a red-hot blade from an omnigel container and operated with a mass effect field, which could be tuned to simply hold it in place or to move it in a variety of deadly slashing or stabbing patterns.

The physical and psychological effect of these weapons was devastating in equal measure. The wounds inflicted by the weapon were almost always fatal, as blood loss tended to be excessive and bones often failed to deflect or stop the blades. The mental effects of an entire infantry regiment armed with these weapons charging down a position with walker or gunship support needs no great explanation. The soldiers serving the Na'hesit were considered extremely brave indeed to remain calm in the face of such a ferocious weapon, a testament to their professionalism and discipline.

_**Na'hesit: Jiris Fighting Vehicle**_

In 2157, the turians landed on the Alliance colony of Shanxi, a couple of weeks after the Battle at Relay 314, and were confronted by an expanded Alliance garrison under General Williams. The colony formally surrendered two weeks later, a matter of continuing controversy in Alliance circles, but not before inflicting heavy losses on the turians' equipment, particularly their vehicles. Alliance 'EMP' weaponry, more correctly described as electronic disruptor nanite dispersion weapons, disabled many of the turian anti-grav tanks and tank destroyers. The Turian Armoured Infantry Transport, or AIT, was particularly vulnerable. Furthermore, when the liberation came, it was found the more primitive tanks of the Alliance were able to match the turians far less well protected tanks in combat, despite their weaker kinetic barriers. The war exposed serious problems with the existing arsenal of turian vehicles, which had been finally been tested against a far more technologically sophisticated enemy than the krogan had ever been.

After serious debate at the very highest levels of the Turian Hierarchy's military, and with consultation with the very best of that state's engineers, the Jiris Fighting Vehicle was born. An anti-grav infantry fighting vehicle, the design incorporated all the great advantages of previous designs of all types. The Jiris would have the mobility of an anti-grav vehicle, the heavy armour of a tank, the long-range missile system of a tank destroyer, and the infantry transport capacity of an armoured personnel carrier. The design was a huge success in wargames and in operations against Terminus pirates. Too lucrative an opportunity to pass up, the Hierarchy authorised its export to trusted allies and key independent border colonies. Anhur was among the latter, and the Jiris became the bedrock of the Anhur Protection Forces' armoured and mobile forces.

The vehicle itself has kinetic barriers and composite armour for defences, vectored thrusters and an excellent mass effect core for propulsion, space for up to six soldiers in addition to its three crew, up to five machineguns for close-in anti-personnel work, and a missile system capable of hitting targets at twenty kilometres for its main armament. All of its equipment is tied into a complex VI-operated network, to allow maximum coordination of squadrons and for third-party targeting of its missiles. The speed of the vehicle is unimpressive for an anti-grav vehicle and its maximum altitude in 1G is low, meaning that it was operated much like the Orca or the Verush was.

Both the Protection Forces and the Coalition of the Free operated the Jiris during the Rebellion in the leadup to the invasion by the Alliance, gaining valuable experience in the process. The rebels generally had less examples to use, but were able to operate defensively and use the range of the vehicle's main weapon to maximum advantage. Against the Alliance, attempts to copy this strategy by the Protection Forces had some success, though these were primarily at the beginning of the invasion. If it wasn't for Alliance air superiority, the Jiris would have caused significantly more casualties and equipment losses than it did, and it would cause no small amount of either in the course of the action to come.

_**Na'hesit: Neurally-Controlled Drone Fighter**_

The Neural Control Interface is a system that allows a single pilot to operate multiple drone fighters at once in formation. It was developed by the asari during the Krogan Rebellions. Prior to its introduction, asari drone pilots could only pilot a single aircraft effectively in high intensity actions, and VI-assisted formations lacked the intuition and unpredictability of a real pilot. As a species, the asari do not reproduce fast enough to waste valuable persons in the high risk environment of a space battle, particularly in the most dangerous role of piloting a fighter directly. The krogan greatly outnumbered asari pilots in any engagement, and the asari found themselves at a severe disadvantage, particularly before the discovery of the turian empire. Thus, a technology that allowed a single pilot to coordinate a whole wing of fighters via her mind was extremely valuable, and was key to the victories that allowed the species to hold off the krogan long enough for them to be defeated and sterilised by the salarians.

The technology was and is not popular outside of asari-held worlds, for a variety of reasons. Despite each pilot's wing of fighters being keyed into their particular set of brainwaves, there were large but unsubstantiated claims that the FTL Commlink between controller and fighter could be hacked or disrupted. There was also a great deal of hesitation among non-asari to undergo the neural mapping and interfacing required. These superstitions did not bother the Na'hesit or the Anhur Protection Forces in the slightest. From the very foundation of the colony, its rulers expected its forces to be outnumbered eventually, either by a concerted effort by a Terminus coalition to overthrow it or by a push by the Citadel Council to integrate it more fully into their jurisdiction. The neurally controlled fighter was far too valuable a technology to pass up. It was found that batarians in particular were excellent at utilising the weapons, thought to be the result of their ability to track multiple objects with their four eyes.

The technology itself can be added to almost any spacefighter in existence, and the Protection Forces primarily used turian models of varying age and capability. The fighters were stationed on airfields, in specialised bunkers and on-board the escort carriers that had been constructed from merchant vessels. They would still be heavily outnumbered in the fight to come, but would play their part in making Anhur a costly battle for humanity. Alliance pilots would come to greatly respect their counterparts' skills, despite the lack of risk that the drone operators actually faced in battle.

_**Na'hesit: Kishock Harpoon Gun**_

The Kishock Harpoon Gun was a large anti-personnel sniper rifle, designed to fire large harpoon-shaped projectiles. These are capable of causing massive damage to the target's body, with the intention of bleeding him or her out before medical measures could be taken to save their life. Developed by the Batarian Hegemony after Mindoir on the recommendation of the infamous General Gadnalak, it was created to respond to two particular trends in military technology and tactics. With ever-more-effective combat medical equipment and biotech like medigel, more immediately lethal weapons were considered a priority by the General, and as a result, by the Hegemony as a whole. Kinetic barriers and their ubiquitous presence on the battlefields of 2176 and later meant that delivering lethal blows also meant contending with these defences. It was therefore decided that the best way to mate the solutions of these two problems was to create a powerful, 'bolt-action' sniper rifle.

The weapon was massively feared by Alliance troops for its range and lethality, just as intended. During the mercenary proxy conflicts fought during the inter-war period, both Alliance forces and their mercenaries encountered the weapon regularly. It was primarily employed on the defence, as due to its bulk. Very few had been issued to the troops that attacked Elysium, for instance, where it served primarily in the hands of the External Forces' units. Its reputation assured a devastating response should the shooter not remove themselves from the firing position after taking the shot. Alliance Army squads often sent their entire drone complements against snipers or called in artillery strikes to completely level complex terrain that allowed shooters to hide.

**The weapon was also one of the few highly successful batarian exports. It was specifically exempted from Citadel protectionist tariffs so that asari commando units and private turian companies could purchase it. Its popularity was almost inevitable in the Terminus Systems, where its reputation for ending an opponent in a pool of their own blood gave it incredible gangster chic. The Na'hesit bought the weapon in large numbers primarily on the basis of its reputation in the Terminus, and the Protection Forces had faced it as often as they had used it by the time the invasion rolled in. It was not popular among the rank and file on Anhur however, due to its bulk and its inability to fire more than one shot before it needed a fresh heatsink. **


	24. ANHUR: The Battle I

THE EVE OF BATTLE

On June 6th 2176, the forward lines in Uralis held by the Coalition of the Free against the Anhur Protection Forces collapsed, a mere three days before the planned invasion by the Alliance was slated to begin. This was achieved by a masterful aerial superiority campaign by the drone-pilots of both spaceborne and ground-based fighter-bomber squadrons, under the direction of General Sickle. Three entire corps of the CoF, two from the Anhur Republican Army and one from the Na'kharit, were surrounded in a strategic envelopment that threatened to destroy them. The rest of the Rebellion's forces withdrew to more defensible positions closer to the northern tundra, making a show of a competent fighting retreat in order to sap strength from the corporate forces as they advanced. Despite this, they were pushed back every hour, day and night, until the rebel capital at Novokuznetskaya was threatened. Not even Eclipse forces seemed capable of halting the advance, as rebel armour was annihilated by orbital strikes and overwhelming air support.

Both the surrounded corps and the withdrawing forces knew that defeat was merely days away, and that there would be no mercy. Despite what appears to be repeated requests on the part of the military leadership, the Corporate Congress would brook no possibility of surrender. For their part in resisting their enslavement, the rebels would be put to the sword. It was a fateful mistake. The abolitionist forces, particularly in the pocket that was slowly being squeezed, fought with a tenacity that bordered on the suicidal. Attack after attack to crush the surrounded troops was repulsed, the orbital artillery unable to track personnel effectively under the cover of decoys and fires deliberately started to jam scans. The terrain around these areas was turned into a charred hellscape of craters and burning oil. Small arms and man-portable anti-tank weaponry proved highly effective in the evergreen forests and cold rocky terrain that dominated the battlefield of the front line beyond. With their food, ammunition and medical supplies dwindling, such heroic efforts could not last forever.

Field Marshal DeRuyter was informed of the breakout by the corporate forces almost as soon as it happened, and moved up the invasion date by thirty-six hours in response. The Second Fleet departed from its defensive positions on the Verge and made their rendez-vous with the troop transports and planetary assault cruisers at Arcturus. From there, they proceeded through salarian space to the jump zones of the relays they would use to enter the Amun System, where Anhur awaited. As they awaited reconnaissance about the activity of the defenders' own fleet, she made a speech to shore up morale in what every combatant knew would be a dire moment in human history.

"_To the soldiers, marines and crews of the Eagle Nebula Allied Expeditionary Forces, from Field Marshal Cassandra DeRuyter, commanding officer._

_You are about to take on the great struggle which our species was born to carry. The eyes of the galaxy are upon you. The hopes and prayers of humans everywhere, march with you. _

_You will bring about the end of the slavers' war machine, the elimination of corporate tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Anhur, and peace and security for ourselves in a free galaxy. _

_Your task is not an easy one. The enemy is well-equipped, well-trained and battle-hardened. They will fight savagely. The tide had turned. The free peoples of Earth are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your martial skill, courage, and devotion to our cause. _

_We will accept nothing less than total victory. Our flag shall wave from every mountaintop. From Anhur to Khar'shan, our empire of freedom will stretch across this galaxy._

_Good luck."_

THE BATTLE

_Phase 1: Titanfall_

The Alliance Grand Fleet jumped to the Eagle Nebula as a single formation, prepared for a major fleet action in the midst of a minefield and fixed defences. The expectations of the naval planners were grim. The combination of fighter, fleet and space-station firepower promised a heavy toll for entrance to the system, the only time that the enemy space forces were predicted to be able to stand up to the might facing them. Unlike the Hegemony's obsolete torpedo technology and rigid-yet-convoluted command hierarchy, the Corporate Congress had studied then adopted human naval technology and operations. In capital ships, the slavers were severely lacking, but Alliance Admiral Petra Hunt had only five ships of that classification in a fleet of hundreds. The two dreadnoughts and three fleet carriers were expected to come under heavy attack, as the loss of any of them would have been a severe political blow to humanity, as well as a significant weakening of the assets facing them. A loss rate of 25%, with irrevocable losses possibly as high as 10%, was considered the worst case scenario outcome. Such losses would be acceptable, but far from preferable.

The crew of each ship braced themselves for a devastating action as they were propelled towards the battlezone, and yet, when they finally arrived, nothing was waiting. The fleet transited to the jumpzone, scans of the immediate surroundings revealed no great ambush springing to trap it. The enemy flotillas were nowhere to be found. Even after reconnaissance sorties by frigate wolfpacks to every sector of the system, the corporate fleet was not located. This greatly troubled the Admiral, as he feared he would have to launch an extended search and destroy operation throughout the nebula to find them, or that the enemy was hiding in cold-space, waiting for the command to strike.

The truth was quite possibly far more devastating. With the invasion date moved up by thirty-six hours, the clearance and deception pre-phases had to be skipped over to allow for the speed of the attack. Whereas the enemy would have had no warning of the fleet's approach under the original plan, corporate spies and scouts had been able to send word back to Anhur. With thirty-six hours remaining, the Na'hesit had plenty of time to act. After consultation with both their military leadership and the Batarian Hegemony via FTL-comms, a decision was made. The entirety of their naval assets would evacuate at the last possible moment to the Terminus Systems via the Amun relay. Once there, they were to join and lead the coalition of Terminus pirates formerly under the command of Elanos Haliat, to menace both the invasion forces and the rear of the quarantine lines in the 'northern' section of the Skyllian Verge. The intervening time was spent transporting satellites to Anhur itself, where they were stripped of their weapons to bolster the AA defences of the planet. A mere hour before the arrival of the Alliance Second Fleet, the entirety of the corporate flotillas departed.

Unaware of this development, Admiral Hunt advised a cautious approach to Anhur in conjunction with search operations. Field Marshal DeRuyter overruled him. The rebels were on the cusp of defeat, and delays were entirely unacceptable. Operation Scipio was initiated. The fleet arrived over the planet in force and began the invasion. The first half hour saw N7s and small groups of marines drop onto the planet to observe and defend landing zones, as well as paint AA batteries for destruction by orbital bombardment. The GARDIAN batteries that had been taken from the defence satellites had primarily been placed in Uralis, where the existing defences had been eliminated by the warfare there. Now, they were destroyed almost piecemeal courtesy of the Alliance Navy.

With the dropzones ready and clear of significant threats to the titans, the main drop began. The planetary assault cruisers began to detach titans into the atmosphere, and launched their assault pods. The flying fortresses glided to their operational altitudes accompanied by the sound of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which had been selected by the PsyOps specialists at the Defence Intelligence Directorate specifically for the invasion. In total, some 160,000 troops were to deploy in this manner on the first day, along with thousands of vehicles. They were deployed by task force along an eighty kilometre line directly in front of the main corporate advance towards the continental capital. First down was the European 3rd Orbital Assault Division of Task Force Wizna, fresh from its victory on Elysium and deployed at the very centre of a formation of six divisions. To the left were the 5th and 15th EU Orbital Assault Divisions from the Thirteenth and Twenty-First Legions. To the right, the African 12th, 13th and 26th Orbital Assault divisions landed, occupying less of the line in order to concentrate against two corporatist armoured divisions directly opposite their landing zones. The objective was simple: Push through to the three corps of rebel forces trapped behind enemy lines.

The fighting was immediate and bloody. With a day and a half to prepare, the Anhur Protection Forces had been able to dig in along the salients they had been advanced through, and despite the loss of their most effective anti-aircraft weaponry, they could still threaten the titans and units in front of them. Indeed, the kinetic barriers of three titans carrying companies of the African 12th were downed and the transports boarded via gunship. Two of the assaults were repulsed, while another was destroyed when corporatist saboteurs successfully breached the reactor safeties. Four more titans were shot down by the remaining AA defences, albeit after inflicting serious casualties. Squads landing via assault pods and walkers arriving via their sub-orbital landing devices were met within minutes with localised counterattacks or sniping from the Na'hesit lines. For two hours, the invasion troops and the defenders clashed on more or less an even basis, despite every attempt to overrun the landing zones. Despite these efforts, the line stabilised, and the second drop began.

Another six orbital assault divisions landed, and the 'deep battle' phase of the beachhead action began. The first six divisions pushed forwards against the enemy's four, to varying successes. All achieved their primary objectives, pushing south towards the rebel pocket, but the western edge of the attack got the furthest of all the attacks, making it some twenty miles in three hours. On the fourth hour, four of the six fresh divisions were moved to the area by titan and shuttle under gunship cover, and together they repulsed the enemy armour before swinging around the back of the remaining corporatist forces facing Alliance units. The enemy formations to the east and west of this action, unable to engage due to the presence of determined rebel forces in front of them, were forced to retreat to the positions of their comrades occupying the flanks of the rebel pocket. As they did so, the final four orbital assault divisions were deployed directly into the rebel holdouts, and began harassing the corporatist lines on every side. By the end of the day, the pocket had been relieved. General Sickle knew that he had lost the round. There would be more opportunities to beat back the invaders.

The cost had been steep. Ten thousand Alliance soldiers and marines had been killed or wounded badly enough to render them combat ineffective for the rest of the campaign. As many as half had received lesser wounds. Losses for the Protection Forces were comparable. Had the Alliance been facing batarian forces, they would have killed or captured possibly as many as fifty thousand. However, the troops of Anhur were better led and better equipped. The Jiris hovertanks were able to withdraw more quickly than the walkers of the Alliance paratroopers could advance, while the Verush Heavies simply laid down heavy carpets of AA and AT fire to suppress attacks long enough to escape. Accurate orbital strikes were confounded by extremely sophisticated jamming devices that could mask moving units for a significant period of time.

The cost for the Alliance had paid huge dividends, however. By nightfall, the first armoured divisions were being landed by heavy-lift shuttles and the troopships had begun disembarking at the the spaceport at Novokuznetskaya, off-loading the first of thirty-six million soldiers more to come. DeRuyter herself landed in the central square of the rebel capital. She stepped off the frigate _Valley Forge_ to ecstatic crowds, and supported by five brigades of Alliance marines, took official control of the colonial government and the war as Supreme Allied Commander and Provisional Military Governor. The Pale Blue Dot was raised over the city on every flagpole to cheers of humans and batarians alike. From the edge of defeat, hope had come at last.

The liberation of Anhur had begun.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those wondering when Battlefield 2183 and/or Battlefield 2157 will be updated, November will be a Mass Effect month. Multiple updates for everything, particularly on November 7__th__ (N7 Day) and November 12__th__ (First anniversary of 2183 being published). Thanks for your patience!_


	25. ANHUR: The Battle II

THE BATTLE CONTINUES

**_Phase 2: The Seven Days Begins_**

The next week would be remembered as 'The Seven Days', when both sides tested themselves against the other in a campaign of movement that typified the fighting on Anhur.

The 'night' of June 8th was a quiet one for the men and women of the Allied Expeditionary Force on the frontline. Despite a ferocious set of opening engagements during the day, the corporatist leadership did not order its forces on Uralis to mount a night-time strike while the numbers of Alliance regulars was low. This failure was the subject of much debate in the months and years after the liberation, and is still discussed by historians today. Records and witness testimonies indicate that General Sickle and the Na'hesit both felt they did not have the forces on hand to carry out such an offensive, and that moving more troops to the continent under the guns of the Alliance Second Fleet's fighters and frigates would have been foolhardy at best. Historians later postulated that the risk could very well have been acceptable, given that later events proved that the Protection Forces could move their troops by air under combat conditions. However, there is a large degree of uncertainty whether or not a night attack in the first twenty four hours could have turned the tide. And so the debate rages on, fuelled by the importance of the campaign to the future prestige and power of the Systems Alliance.

However, this delay provided one advantage to the corporatists, one that they could not anticipate and one that Consul Taro had long planned for. As the Alliance began landing its troops, Field Marshal Cassandra DeRuyter declared herself Provisional Military Governor under the 2176 War Powers Act. This was of dubious legality, as it effectively meant that the Systems Alliance was annexing an independently chartered colony under the protection of the Citadel Council. There would be many court battles to come over this declaration, but the most immediate effect was the alienation of most of the leadership of the Coalition of the Free from the Alliance. Most of the groups making up the Rebellion had not been fighting so that the colony could be handed over to the Alliance. Indeed, only human-supremacists openly supported such a move before the offensive that almost crushed the rebellion had begun.

This presented a rather large diplomatic problem for the Field Marshal. What happened next is proof to some that her personality was ill-suited to the complex political task, proof to others of her greatness as a general. When confronted at the _Hotel Grand,_ what would become her governmental headquarters for the duration of the invasion, by the leadership of both the Anhur Republican Army and the Na'kharit, she reacted with her famous forwardness. After hours of quietly hearing complaints and objections, she declared that the Rebellion had lost the war. The complete collapse of the line just prior to Alliance intervention and the intelligence reports provided by the Eclipse were proof of that. As such, the political leadership of the rebels had ceded their right to object, as they had failed the people of Anhur and the Alliance would not. She outlined what the future of the rebellion's contribution to the war would be. They would be disarmed of their remaining heavy weapons, and they would police the rear of the lines in conjunction with her own garrison units. In short, the glory was to be the Alliance's alone. Most of the rebel leaders were outraged, to which DeRuyter coolly responded that she was perfectly content to let them join the enemy if they found the situation intolerable.

For the moment however, neither the Field Marshal nor the CoF leadership could act on the matter. Rebel forces were still important to the integrity of the front line, meaning that disarming them would not be an option. Similarly, the population did not share their leaders' distrust of the Alliance, regarding the invasion forces as liberators, which prevented any open political opposition to their presence. With the situation resolved for the moment, the eyes of all turned to the fighting to come.

On the second day of the invasion, Alliance and rebel forces were ordered forward on a broad front. The corporatists had not been idle in the night, and had prepared effective makeshift defences in depth. At dawn, the assault began with Alliance gunships strafing the forward armoured positions. These were followed by a full mechanised attack by elements of the Tenth, Twenty-First and Thirty-Second Legions, supported on both sides by rebel advances. Resistance was fierce for the whole day. Courtesy of the robotic mining equipment available to them, the corporatists had been able to turn what was previously a more or less flat and forested battlefield into a series of small hills, canyons and tank-traps. This behaviour had not been counteracted, as DeRuyter had issued strict orders to keep mining equipment intact for breaking into bunkers on other continents.

Several lead squadrons of Alliance Orca tanks and Groundhog II APCs were disabled or destroyed as they pushed into the terrain, at no significant cost to the enemy. Alliance commanders reacted quickly to the situation, and by noon in the centre of the battlefield, Alliance infantry were deploying by assault pods from APCs and titans to eliminate the AT teams stalking the artificial labyrinths. It was during these attacks that the first omni-bayonet charges were made, marking the beginning of a new era in infantry combat, one dominated by the kinetic barrier. Rebel forces were not so lucky, lacking the equipment to deploy their soldiers in the same way. Furthermore, the Protection Forces had identified them as the weak links in the chain closing around them and directed their Jiris hovertanks to the flanks where the rebels were moving. With the help of Alliance orbital strikes, the rebels did make progress in the afternoon, but their losses were much more heavy, particularly in terms of vehicles and equipment.

By the evening, the Protection Forces had effected an orderly withdrawal in the face of the Alliance, but had held the line against the rebels. They had been pushed back or given some sixty miles in the centre, but a mere twenty on the flanks. This was deliberate on the part of General Sickle, who still did not feel confident enough to reinforce the continent's forces by air. He wished to provoke overconfidence in his or her enemy, and in this he succeeded. They had moved forward three times as much as their plans had projected. However, in doing so, they had created a huge salient along the eighty kilometre sector in which they operated. In addition, the rebel forces to their flanks were shattered, good only for defensive operations. Both sides would have to react to this opportunity and danger.

**_Phase 3: The Uralis Salient_**

The disposition of the forces of both sides presented great threat and great possibility for Field Marshal DeRuyter.

On the one hand, the corporatist forces had just enough troops, gunships and tanks to encircle the main thrust of her own forces by breaking through the tired rebel lines and proceeding northwards. The dividends for the enemy would have been huge. They could close the noose around the two-hundred thousand or so troops that the pincer movement would capture, hugging close enough to Alliance lines to prevent the mass use of orbital strikes, and force her to commit yet more troops to a meatgrinder attack to relieve those trapped. On the other hand, there was a great possibility for her to split her centre in two, push both east and west against the slavers' flanks, march to the coasts and drive the best divisions of the enemy into the sea. This was not without risk. It would leave the centre weakened against enemy attacks. However, the Field Marshal was not afraid of risk when the rewards were so great, and with total orbital supremacy at her fingertips until Uralis was freed, she was fully confident of victory.

General Sickle also had to contemplate his or her options. They had two obvious possibilities that could result in a great victory for their troops. They could take the initiative and attack on the flanks as DeRuyter suspected he might. This was attractive for reasons beyond the military. Smashing the remnants of the Rebellion's own forces would be a huge political victory for the Corporate Congress. It would leave the fighting to be done entirely by the Alliance, which would give them a huge propaganda tool in the form of claims that this was an illegal annexation as opposed to a liberation. They were unaware that the Alliance did not care about its reputation either among the population of Anhur or on the Citadel. Consul Taro, Minister deBankole and Field Marshal DeRuyter all wanted victory more.

The other option was a concentrated attack on the centre if the Field Marshal attacked on the flanks herself. It was seen as practically inevitable that she would, as all military analysis by the Na'hesit on the subject of their great opponent indicated that she was an aggressive commander. Turning the Alliance back in this way while getting out their own troops would be an equally large political victory. However, there were concerns for both plans. Encirclement would cause huge casualties among the Alliance ranks, both within the pocket and during the counterattacks to relieve it, but the question of what would happen next after that was a grave one. Similarly, an attack on the centre might be repulsed under heavy artillery and orbital fire, or delayed long enough for the Alliance to complete its own flank attacks.

In the end, the General went with his or her third option, and managed to save the lion's share of their forces in the process. Fighting on the third day opened with the much-predicted move by DeRuyter; five divisions attacked on each flank of the salient, striking towards the sea. The rebels made more modest efforts along the entire front to hold the attention of the divisions directly facing them, whom could have otherwise turned and overwhelmed the attackers. Further Alliance reserves were moved into the centre from Novokuznetskaya as the morning progressed, bringing the total number of human forces present on the front line to 250,000. Aside from the six orbital assault formations already deployed, these consisted of four armoured, five air assault and ten mechanised infantry divisions.

In the east, the European Twenty-First Legion deployed two armoured and three air assault divisions to attack on the flat, open plains that made up the northern part of Uralis' great steppes, the centre of its agriculture. In the west, the African Tenth Legion had four mechanised infantry divisions and one air assault division as it moved to attack the enemy along a range of small mountains that framed the coastline and the arid region behind that. In the centre, the other legions were to hold the line against what seemed to be the majority of the corporate forces. The assaults on both flanks started off well, particularly in the west. However, by the afternoon, they were getting into significant trouble. Sudden armoured attacks from the rear and flanks began, halting the advances dead.

These battles are what gave General Sickle their name. Knowing he could not attack the centre or encircle the Alliance forces and maintain it, he opted to defuse the threat of the Alliance's own offensives. They left ten divisions of their own facing the Alliance centre, and had the remainder wait until the humans' own attacks had made it over their start lines and towards the sea. Once they were exposed, the corporatist troops moved parallel to the Alliance's own defensive lines and straight into the sides and rear of the attacks being made on the flanks. Cover against orbital strikes came in the form of burning yet more of the forests and crops, proving itself highly effective. Thus the infamous "Sickle Movement" was seen for the first time by the Alliance Army, and not for the last time.

The Tenth and Twenty-First Legions were forced to turn their attacks southward, to deal with these attacks. They performed admirably in doing so, but Sickle's real objective became apparent soon after. Tens of divisions that had been fighting the rebel forces some twenty to forty miles behind in both the east and west began to retreat rapidly, under cover of the Na'hesit's gunships and mobile AA. DeRuyter's troops attempts to resume the push to the seas were frustrated by fresh assaults that continued into the night, and by the time the Alliance made it to the sea, three quarters of the troops that had attempted to escape managed to do so. Thus ended the Battle for the Uralis Salient.

Despite the tactical Alliance victory, it remained very much a strategic victory for the Corporate Congress. They had lost less troops in the engagement than the Alliance, had demonstrated their commanders' ability to deceive their enemy, and had managed to preserve face against overwhelming odds. DeRuyter was infuriated, and would press the only advantages she had been left with in the aftermath; numbers and battlespace.

**_Phase 4: Top to Bottom_**

Despite the victory, Sickle knew that their position on Uralis was increasingly untenable. Preparations to reinforce the continent had been made, including a series of fortified anti-aircraft and anti-ship emplacements on the island chains that connected it to the other continents. Originally, it had been planned to use these corridors of safe airspace to fly and ship in more troops to take back the ground lost. The problem with this was one of numbers. Every passing day saw yet more Alliance ground troops arrive from orbit, and in ever-increasing numbers. Another two hundred thousand were due to arrive on the fourth day alone. Even if they used the entirety of their shuttle fleet and every civilian oceancraft fast enough to make the journey without being blasted to pieces, they would not be able to move enough troops in time to save the continent. Furthermore, the lack of GARDIAN weapons on the continent meant that counteracting the Alliance titans was nearly impossible.

So the decision was made to abandon Uralis to its fate. Sickle ordered a general retreat to the shorelines closest to the island chains, and from there, he would evacuate the sectors across the sea to reinforce the defences of New Cilicia and Al-Kheb. To disguise this plan, he spent the fourth day of the campaign making a fighting retreat in much the same manner that had created the Uralis Salient, causing maximum casualties and then withdrawing to the next useful position. This lulled DeRuyter into a sense of complacency to a certain extent, and she was surprised to find the Protection Forces in full retreat the next morning.

Despite extensive orbital bombardment and the air assault divisions of the Alliance hounding them the entire way, Sickle's troops made it to their embarkation zones on the sixth day. This left 90% of the continent in Alliance hands, and the port towns became the primary combat zones. Over the next two days, some 500,000 humans, batarians and turian mercenaries would be successfully moved out as the Thirteenth and Tenth Legions battered at the defensive perimeters, kilometre-by-kilometre. On the night of the seventh day, they succeeded in breaching them, ending the evacuation prematurely. In one of the pinnacles of the brutality of the invasion, some seventy thousand corporatist troops either fought to the death or were executed after surrendering. How many fought and how many were murdered under the orders of General Petrovsky is unknown. Another thirty to fifty thousand were taken prisoner, most of them in sectors assaulted by the Tenth Legion. These figures provoked great suspicion when they came to light.

And so The Seven Days ended as an Alliance victory, but with a promise for more carnage to come.


	26. ANHUR: The Battle III

THE BATTLE CONTINUES

**_Phase 5: Korlus_**

With Uralis under Alliance control, the invasion forces consolidated their control both in space and planetside. The full thirty-six million strong contribution from the Army was landed without incident over the course of a month, contrary to planners' fears of concentrated aerial attacks. These included both the front combat troops that would go on to take the rest of the planet and the support personnel that made the whole enterprise a possibility. Air defence systems, logistics, electronic warfare centres, ordnance disposal facilities, hospitals, maintenance yards, meteorological sensor nodes, military police stations, communication hubs and psychological operations teams were all built up with the help of the huge numbers of combat engineers. The Alliance's extensive experience with colony-building allowed them to construct a new city in a matter of weeks, with the prefabricated buildings airdropped by the thousands each hour. It was a stunning feat in itself. The locals named the city "Cassandra's Bastion" after the Field Marshal, but it was in fact never given a single official designation, as it was divided by legion into separate living spaces.

The building work did not only extend to the military sphere. The Field Marshal found herself engaged with much political work in the opening weeks. Although she had effectively seized command of the planet by force of arms, she had no intention of ruling it in the same way. Civilian matters were to be left to the civilians. A consultative assembly based along the lines of the Alliance's own Parliament was founded to "advise" the Field Marshal on the governing of the planet. In reality, the assembly did all of the work of ruling those areas of the planet that were free. Only when their plans conflicted with the military needs of the Alliance Army were they overruled by DeRuyter. This happened often in the early days, particularly as the land required to house thirty-six million soldiers had to be expropriated from the agricultural barons that formed the economic backbone of the former Coalition of the Free.

The Navy was not idle during this time either. For two weeks, Admiral Hunt's carrier air groups laid waste to anything that looked remotely spaceworthy, both on the ground and in the air. The Corporate Congress had long expected just such a measure however, and kept their best machines out of the fighting safe underground. They could not hide everything however, and the Na'hesit's air transport capability was systematically devastated, leaving each continent unable to reinforce the others quickly. The Alliance would not see a repeat elsewhere of the evacuation of enemy redoubts on Uralis, a fact for which DeRuyter would have much reason to be grateful. For another two weeks, the Navy had little else to do but protect the troopships. Seeking out battle elsewhere might invite the return of the corporate flotillas, which remained completely intact with the pirate fleets in the Terminus. However, once the task of landing the troops was complete, the Navy's next task would begin.

That task would be Korlus, the centuries-old, galaxy-famous dumping yard of every species. This was not just a reference to the starships that would be ditched and broken up on its surface. The planet was called home by nearly three billion people, almost all of them the dregs of the galaxy. Exiled krogan clans and vicious vorcha packs hold power in most areas of the surface, exploiting a large slave labour pool to salvage or scrap whatever they can. Turian interests controlled the anti-ship defence systems. These consisted of a series of huge, dreadnought-scale cannons on the mountain ranges, backed up by GARDIAN batteries all over the surface. Mercenaries wanting privacy and secrecy also located themselves on the scrapheap, among the corpses of the vessels long-picked clean or underneath them. Finally, wholesalers of ships operated in orbital-stations, selling off repaired and salvaged ships, as well as the raw resources and parts obtained from those that couldn't be saved. Together, these factions operated in a state of uneasy peace, a coalition held together by the profits of the planet and the ruthlessness of the parties.

The presence of two particular things on Korlus together made Alliance intervention inevitable. The orbital shipyards were a huge threat, as the Corporate Congress had excellent credit among their owners. They might be able to simply build enough ships to threaten the invasion forces once the Second Fleet was forced to leave later in the year by the Verge blockade. This alone would not have required intervention, and the shipper-barons of the planet were quite happy to offer a reasonable deal on preventing just such an eventuality from coming to pass. However, the presence of human slaves precluded any notion that such an offer would or could be accepted. The plan for Korlus was originally much more grand, involving a full invasion force of its own. The huge population, the presence of large numbers of krogan and the terrain conditions convinced planners that it would be unwise in the environment of a larger war. A different approach would be taken, involving no Alliance ground assets at all.

It was to be divide and conquer.

Courtesy of the Quarian Migrant Fleet, which maintained a permanent presence in orbit of the planet due to its constant need for parts and new ships, Admiral Hunt had real time information on the entirety of the planet's defences. He left frigate wolfpacks and the planetary assault cruiser patrol groups at Anhur, to protect the ground forces and support their advance, while the rest of the Second Fleet proceeded to the Imir System itself. Rather than close to fight, Admiral Hunt held back his cruisers and frigates. The huge weapons on the planet would have caused significant losses before being destroyed. Instead, he ordered the Niké-class fleet carrier _Victoria,_ the Macha-class fleet carriers _Astarte_ and _Morrigan,_ and the escort carriers to launch an FTL-fighter strike on the mountain positions with EXALT-torpedoes.

Hundreds of Alliance fighters jumped to the edge of Korlus' atmosphere, and vectored onto their targets virtually unopposed. The barons in control of the space-defences had hoped that the Second Fleet's position at the edge of the system meant that Admiral Hunt was there to negotiate, displays of force to force submission peacefully being commonplace among their kind in the Terminus Systems. As such, no fighter screens were deployed in opposition to the Alliance strike. The torpedoes penetrated the kinetic barriers of the cannons' positions with difficulty, but in the end, they were all destroyed and turned to mangled heaps. It was only then that the mercenary fighter squadrons began to launch, and the dogfight over the planet began in earnest.

With no real threat left, Admiral Hunt brought the fleet to low-orbit over Korlus, swatted aside the frigates and light cruisers that guarded it with overwhelming force, and began bombarding a large list of positions. The facilities and personal residences of the barons, mercenary camps that had refused to sign on with the Alliance, slaver property, krogan camps and vorcha pits, GARDIAN batteries belonging to hostile factions; all were bombarded with a variety of weapons ranging from non-lethal 'EMP' types to lower-yield thermonuclear weapons. This utterly destroyed the delicate balance of power on the planet overnight, and the population of Korlus knew it. Into the vacuum of power, a set of mercenary groups that had agreed to cooperate were placed. Among these were the famous Blue Suns mercenary group. Others seized power in other areas, the Omega Blood Pack among them. Regardless, the human and quarian slaves under the old powers were set free and moved, and the orbital-stations turned over to the Migrant Fleet to administer. These would later be destroyed in acts of terrorism, thought to be the work of the Blue Suns, but regardless, they could no longer be used to build ships for the Corporate Congress.

The fleet returned to orbit over Anhur just as the Army forces under DeRuyter were ready to begin Operation Pompey, the invasion of the continents of New Cilicia and Al-Kheb.

**_Phase 6: The Al-Kheb Campaign_**

The continent of Al-Kheb lies to the southeast of Uralis, often referred to as the mirror continent of its northern neighbour. Like Uralis, it is long and relatively thin, but there the similarities end. Where Uralis has tundra, forests and steppe grasslands from north to south, Al-Kheb begins at the equator with sweltering jungle, progressing to mountains and then dry sandy desert as you move southwards until it reaches the low temperate zone again, where the urban settlements are located. Traversing such a variety of terrain would be no small feat for any military force.

Adding to the complications was the population. Al-Kheb was mainly settled by nationalist elements from the former Middle Eastern Coalition on Earth, which had been absorbed by the Pan-Asian Coalition during the Asian Unification Wars, and then annexed by the European Union at the end of the Cold War. Many were unhappy with this state of affairs, and emigrated to independent colonies like Anhur in large numbers. As such, it was a stronghold of anti-Alliance sentiment and was heavily divided between the corporate forces and the rebels. As Al-Kheb was the continent least affected by the imposition of zero-pay contracts, most humans there viewed the Alliance intervention as a threat to their prosperity. Most work was in mining or resource extraction, with manual labour delegated to VI units and skilled labourers making up the backbone of the economy. Those that did oppose slavery had no desire to live under the banner of the Alliance regardless. As such, the continent was the heartland of the pro-slavery human population, and there was to be no rebel uprisings in support of the attacks.

The Allied Expeditionary Forces had just the formations to crack this complicated nut, however. Field Marshal DeRuyter deployed combat elements of three legions for the campaign. For the jungle, she assigned the Fourteenth Legion, veterans of hostile environment fighting across the Verge. For the desert, she had her own former unit, the Tenth Legion, which had extensive training in mechanised warfare. Lastly, for the urban fighting in the far-south, she had the Thirteenth Legion, already tested in similar conditions on Uralis during the breakout from the bridgehead. These deployments were a change from the initial plans, but were viewed as a requirement now that it was obvious that the enemy leadership was more than competent. Against these, General Sickle deployed mostly infantry. Apart from the southern cities, the continent was not particularly important or productive. Little of the industrial base was located there except for resource refineries, and those could be rebuilt elsewhere if required. Fighting in the jungle and in the urban areas was anticipated to be where the real action was, rendering most of the mobile equipment of the Protection Forces less useful than it would have been otherwise. The tanks would be needed elsewhere. Regardless, with the population against them, Sickle had little doubt that the Alliance would run into heavy resistance even without significant reinforcements sent.

The battle began on July 1st, with a huge paratroop attack on the coastline nearest Uralis. Walkers, orbital and aerial assault infantry, and titans were dropped onto the beach zones. They were met by no one, at first. This allowed the first regular units of the Fourteenth to land by shuttle and landing ship on the beaches, and begin moving in-land. For several days, there was no sign of the enemy, and DeRuyter had her troops move along the less heavily wooded coastlines to spread out her forces in an attempt to find the enemy. None revealed themselves, even as the coastal monorails were captured and the roads to the south found. Preliminary reconnaissance of the interior jungles by drone and recon scouts found no sign of the enemy, and the Field Marshal ordered the legion to press forward along the easiest paths of advance.

It was exactly what Sickle was waiting for.

As the more heavily armed units moved away to the south, batarian jungle specialists emerged from naturally occurring water tunnel systems. Typically for Sickle, their targets were the rear-echleon units and the supply dumps. The corporate forces were able to disable several key forward operating bases, while making off with a large amount of materiel to continue the fight. Casualties were light on both sides, as DeRuyter had ordered rear units to withdraw before the enemy if challenged after the actions in Uralis. It was still a strategic and morale victory for the Protection Forces, however, and they were more capable of fighting on than ever.

The Field Marshal's response was as characteristically aggressive as ever. The forward units were kept on the advance, ordered to charge all the way to the mountain range separating the jungle from the desert, completing a huge encirclement of the enemy. Once this was complete, she deployed the Thirteenth Legion early into the jungles themselves, creating paths of entry by burning huge strips into the flora with aerial strikes. The Thirteenth were to suffer the greatest casualties of any of the legions deployed to Anhur, and the jungles of Al-Kheb were to be one of the reasons why. Each underground cavern had to be checked individually, as drones roamed the forest surface for targets. Disease took its toll as well, knocking out a quarter of available manpower for the duration.

It took two months for the Thirteenth and Fourteenth legions to complete the sweep, two months of continuous jungle and close-in fighting by soldiers that had expected to remain in reserve until near the end of the campaign. The human cost was twenty thousand permanent casualties, and almost seven hundred and fifty thousand were put out by injury or sickness temporarily. The Anhur Protection Forces lost an unknown number, but estimates put the number at some sixty thousand dead and ten thousand captured. The secret order to the Thirteenth to take no prisoners and widespread use of drones played their roles in this staggeringly high death rate.

With the jungle and mountain passes secure, the Tenth Legion was landed and drove over the Altair Mountains. The desert before them was flat and merciless, but largely undefended. Despite this, the advance was slow. DeRuyter and her immediate subordinate General Botha had no wish to repeat the jungle experience, and suspected the presence of enemy bunkers everywhere. Every suspicious sand dune received a sharp orbital bombardment before Alliance forces were allowed to pass them. In truth, this was a complete waste of time. The geology of the region prevented the use of the civilian mining equipment to make bunkers that could withstand any punishment, so General Sickle had the region abandoned. A journey that should have taken a few days instead took a few weeks.

This had one benefit however, in that it meant that all three legions were ready for the fighting in the cities. The Field Marshal determined that the danger of concentrating casualties in one formation was too great. The plan was changed again, so that the final attacks on the urban transit areas of New Damascus, New Riyadh and New Baghdad would be rotated between each of the three legions. This was also necessary as reports of the populace arming themselves for the coming fight had posted, causing great concern.

The Tenth was to attack first, as it had yet to face a fight. On the western coast, New Damascus was the northern-most city and a hub for the resources reaped from the deserts and jungle. Heavy metal ore was processed in the city, giving it a reputation as a dirty industrial town with good work for those seeking it. It would earn another one entirely as the South Africans began their assault in mid-September. The street-to-street fighting here was heavily favourable to the Alliance, as the climate meant there was plenty of open spaces and large flat roofing for walkers and assault pods to operate in respectively. The militia defenders in particular found themselves utterly perplexed by the vertical envelopment tactics of the mechanised divisions, which took to showering enemy strongpoints with APC-deployed assault pods before ramming through with their bulldozer blades. The professional human, turian and batarian soldiers found themselves surrounded as the Alliance concentrated on where the human militias were most numerous. The latter didn't have enough anti-tank weaponry to sustain any serious defence against such an onslaught, and the last resistance collapsed on September 29th.. The city surrendered, at a cost of some seven thousand permanent casualties for a reward of triple that dead, and nearly fifty times that captured.

New Riyadh was located in hill lands that separated the temperate zone with the desert scrublands. As such, it saw much more precipitation and was more densely constructed, leaving less room for the same sort of tactics as in New Damascus. The town was touristic and artistic before the war, the privileged classes using it as a retreat. The University of Anhur's main campus was located there, though many of the students had joined the rebellion, leaving the facilities under paramilitary control. The attack was carried by the Fourteenth. The Kenyans fought a meticulous street-by-street house clearing operation. Using the fight in the jungle as a template, every single building was to be entered, cleared and secured by infantry. This was not just to insure low civilian casualties, but also to protect the city's architecture itself, which was considered highly valuable in its own right. The Protection Forces fought them for every inch of ground, fighting a much more mobile hit-and-run operation than in Damascus. Streets would be abandoned to the enemy so as to provide opportunities for flanking counterattacks. Snipers would duel in the top floors, taking single shots before moving to the next firing position and searching for their counterparts. The Fourteenth would take the heaviest casualties of the urban operations and New Riyadh would take the longest to liberate. The former numbered some fifteen thousand permanent casualties. The fighting would end on the same day as it would in New Baghdad, despite the operations there starting two weeks later.

The Thirteenth was given the task of securing the land between all three cities for the extra time, to allow it some more recovery time after the utterly brutal fighting of the jungle caverns. New Baghdad was situated between two major rivers at the southern-most plain of Al-Kheb, and it was the capital of the continent. High rise government, business and financial buildings dominated the centre. It was just as crowded as New Riyadh, and perhaps three times as large, though it was situated on flat ground which made the use of assault pods and armour easy. Like the Fourteenth, the Protection Forces fought a street-by-street operation, attempting to lure in the Alliance troops for ambushes and force errors. General Petrovsky was to have none of it. After the first major ambush, where soldiers from the 124th EU Infantry were caught in a trap between several snipers and a heavy machinegun nest, he instituted a new plan of attack. Every building of defensive worth was to be shelled and systematically rubbled with precision rocket artillery strikes. Taking his cue from the turians, Petrovsky broadcast the location of safezones across the rivers, and had the bridges monitored by drone teams. Despite this, many civilians were caught in the crossfire. Lacking long range artillery of their own, the Protection Forces had no answer to this grinding, implacable advance. They surrendered after Petrovsky had the tallest spire in the city, the ATS Bank Tower, brought down into the midst of the defender's redoubt. Casualties were relatively light at ten thousand permanent, but the cost in lives spent from both the civilian populace and corporate soldiery is estimated in the hundreds of thousands. Similar numbers surrendered, and the Thirteenth took the only significant number of prisoners they would in the course of the whole campaign.

The last Anhur Protection Forces soldier in Al-Kheb surrendered on November 5th 2176 to soldiers of Task Force Scania, at the Cape of Light after a four hour chase. The continent had been liberated. The fighting on New Cilicia, which had started at about the same time as that of Al-Kheb, would continue.

**_Phase 7: The New Cilicia Campaign Begins_**

The breakthrough in the invasion would come as a result of the unique conditions of New Cilicia. It stretched across the entire southern hemisphere, occupying much of the temperate zone. It was visible on a clear day from Al-Kheb at the Cape of Light, and also had a rocky peninsula that stretched into an island chain connecting it with Uralis across the equator. It was from this island chain that the Alliance would attack. The majority of the population were newly-enslaved, and they were mostly human. Batarian slaves were regarded as more reliable as house servants and administrative clerks in Dahshur and Waset, leaving the stronger humans to work the exotic agriculture and manufacturing plants of New Cilicia. Aside from mass production of asari fruits and vegetables, for which there was huge demand both in the Terminus and in human space, every variety of narcotic drug plant was grown and processed there. One advantage that Anhur had over Illium was that it was suitable for agriculture, and the Corporate Congress knew an opportunity when it smelled one. These were exported all over the Terminus, and even into some turian and asari colonies, all of it legally. Aside from that, skilled manufacturing too complicated for VI controlled robots was carried out, including knockoff programming and adaptive computing technology for cheap omnitools. Programmers had been enslaved right alongside farmers, and both chafed in their chains.

The Protection Forces in this sector were mostly batarian, with the roles reversed on Waset and Dahshur. This was a new development, designed to drive a racial wedge between the two slave populations. In that goal, it largely worked, as anti-batarian sentiment rose sharply among humans and vice-versa, over the course of the Rebellion and the invasion. New Cilicia also had the most capable units assigned to it. Armoured and mechanised divisions mounted in Verush Heavies and Jiris IFVs, fully 70% of the Na'hesit's gunship capability, all of the specialised mercenary groups, and the great majority of the Neurally-Controlled Drone Fighter squadrons. The terrain was studded with bunkers, GARDIAN emplacements and pillboxes. The plains, orchards and forests of New Cilicia was where General Sickle intended to break the back of the invasion. Some ten million soldiers were under arms on the continent, including almost all of the veterans from Uralis. DeRuyter was aware of most of this, and had her titans deployed nearly exclusively to the theatre once the troops allocated to Al-Kheb had been landed. The war of manoeuvre was to begin.

The Field Marshal assigned her remaining three legions. The defenders of Elysium, the Fifth Legion. The victors over Dar'lokhan, the Thirty-Second Legion. The armour specialists of the Twenty-First Legion. The first two were hardened veterans for the most part. The last had varied experience, but ideal equipment for the fight to come. It would be the Thirty-Second that would lead the way. Unlike New-Kheb, the landing would be contested from the start. On July 3rd, the titans and assault troops of the Alliance deployed to the northern shore, much as they had to the jungle coast a few days previously. They were met with a hail of concentrated fire, wherever they stepped. Beachfront bunkers and artillery emplacements to the rear pounded away at the orbital assault troops and titans for an hour. The Alliance lost some nineteen titans to hidden GARDIAN batteries before orbital strikes eliminated the threat, a single-day figure bested only by the height of fighting in the Cold War until the Reaper War. The number of shuttles shot down was as proportionately large, though most managed to crash-land with minimal personnel losses.

The frontline was chaotic, and corporate armoured forces moved quickly to exploit it. At two parts of the line, mixed units of Jiris and Verush tanks managed to break through to the beaches. There, they were met by elements of the armoured and mechanised divisions of the Twenty-First Legion. A terrible, close-in tank battle began. This favoured the Alliance to a large extent, as their tanks were better suited to close range engagements, but they could not safely deploy titans against the enemy either. By the end of the first day of the landings, the Protection Forces had been repelled at great cost in vehicles and lives. The northern beaches of New Cilicia would remain littered with the destroyed hulks of tanks for years to come, the eezo levels being too high to affect normal salvage. The Alliance had kept their beachhead, but only barely. They had advanced only ten kilometres at the most, and some parts of the pocket were as shallow as two kilometres from the sea. Exacerbating this was the constant artillery fire, which made the establishment of supply depots impossible. Resupply from Uralis by shuttle was still vulnerable to attack by enemy fighters. Meanwhile, the enemy infantry was massing.

DeRuyter was forced to act. She ordered all available air assault units forward under the cover of friendly orbital and air strikes. They established perimeters at key points, including transport hubs, and destroyed the artillery that was vexing efforts to lay the infrastructure necessary for the fighting to come. To insure the enemy armour did not turn around and surround the more lightly armed troops, she ordered a general advance simultaneously. These were extremely risky moves. Fuel, food and ammunition needs placed a limit on how long the fighting could go on at such intensity. General Sickle had deduced this as well. Orders went out for all available forces to concentrate on the airdropped units behind the lines. The dropzones became tangled with Ne'hesit troops, as the Alliance gunships ranged above, strafing tanks and keeping the infantry below alive.

Trapped within one such zone was the air assault brigade of the 25th EU Panzergrenadier Division, of which Lieutenant Haider commanded a platoon. As soon as the Protection Forces began moving, Haider understood the danger immediately. Without orders, she took her platoon to a ridgeline overlooking the path from the beaches and waited. Within an hour, a huge column of Jiris fighting vehicles appeared, on the way to crush the rest of her brigade. The ambush that followed would make headlines. Haider's single platoon destroyed or disabled an entire armoured brigade in a brutal four hour fight. She used her infantry to box in and distract enemy tank squadrons, before calling in her gunships and walkers to deliver killing blows. By striking at random points of the formation, facilitated by the mobility of her gunships, she entirely out-thought and out-fought the mostly human corporate forces against her. They had taken 70% losses by the time they surrendered, and Haider had opened the way for the link up of the two Alliance zones of control in forcing the matter. This was the first but not the last instance of the young lieutenant's brilliance in the course of the fighting on New Cilicia, and indeed it would be overshadowed by later events. However, at the time, her success protected her entirely from the ire of her direct superiors and her own disregard of the chain of command.

The breakout began soon after. The rest of the 25th Panzergrenadiers streamed through the gap, diverting enemy troops to either side of its advance, allowing a wider and wider followthrough. Enemy units were forced to turn like a line of dominos to deal with flanking manoeuvres that rippled along the front. The Protection Forces were forced back, and by the end of the first week, had been pushed out of the shrublands that dominated the northwestern coast and into the agricultural heartlands of the entire planet; the Pedias Plains. Here, the advance halted as the Alliance ran into the start of the formidable fixed defences that dotted Anhur, protections first built to defend against pirates operating for profit, now built up to defend against a far more capable enemy.

The Twenty-First Legion was reinforced, as the European Fifth and the African Thirty-Second were called forwards. The Fifth was dispatched southwards, towards the Trachean Forests, a vast mix of woodlands and orchard plantations that stretched until the southern tundra. The Thirty-Second was to join the Twenty-First for the attack across the plains. The plan of action was simple. The armour would move through the weaker sections of the enemy defences, and the infantry would surround and reduce each strongpoint.

The second offensive began days after the first attacks, and it made steady progress. However, the Field Marshal was to find the rate of advance extremely frustrating. Everywhere, previously unknown defensive works sprung up. Orbital scans suggested that the entire region had been dug out like a molehill, but not all of the earthworks and bunkers were occupied and it was impossible to know which were. Decoys and booby-trapped chambers became part of the life of the ordinary soldier, and the frustration was not reserved for the high command alone. Added to this was the strategy of the enemy to allow Alliance armoured forces to pass, followed up by attacks on the rear of the columns or against the support forces. Even rebel spies could not tell when and where such attacks would strike, as all civilians were kept away from the new defences.

For two months

Once again, Lieutenant Karla Haider would rescue the Alliance forces from what could have been a catastrophic cost to take the planet.

**_Phase 8: The Battle of Tarsus_**

Despite much greater success than had been anticipated, the Corporate Congress was sent into a panic as Al-Kheb fell and New Cilicia's fighting degenerated into a quagmire. The slaveholders of the continent were the most concerned, and most began carrying out the first stages of their contingency plans. Where previously they had seen their slaves as cheap employees or chattel, now they saw only witnesses to their crimes, and the hangman banging at the door. Sponsored militia or units of the Protection Forces, along with the personal mercenary detachments assigned to guard the plantations, began rounding up slaves by the tens of thousands and sending them to the city of Tarsus.

Agricultural slaves were piled into housing with the factory workers, overcrowding the residential districts. The Alliance thought little of it. Slaveholders had been moving slaves away from the front since the beginning of the campaign, and Tarsus was a major transportation hub for both monorail and trucks. If the slaves were going to be moved to the far-west of the continent, trains would have to be used. Furthermore, as they weren't moving anything like the same amount of material westward, there was plenty of room. DeRuyter and her subordinates simply assumed that evacuation of the plantations was the intention of the action.

Lieutenant Haider was under no such illusion. Due to her position as an air assault officer, she had a great deal of access to forward intelligence on the activities of the enemy behind the lines, where she was expected to operate. Rebel spy reports, satellite surveillance, reconnaissance by N7s, all information from all sources told her of the enemy's terrible plan. Everything pointed to a mass killing in the works, one of an unprecedented scale since the end of the Krogan Rebellions.

Haider informed her superiors of her suspicions, and was met with a mixed response. Her immediate superiors were sceptical, but when they themselves reported it to their own superiors, there was a great debate over whether or not it was a genuine threat, and what to do about it if it was. The lieutenant had no intention of waiting to see the result, and was determined to act in defence of the humans now being crowded together into the slums. She previously had been ordered to attack targets of opportunity behind enemy lines, as part of the general advance. So had any number of other air assault platoons, with allotted aerial cover as well as missile and orbital artillery support. She would take the interpretation of these orders to an extreme.

On the night of August 15th 2176, an air assault platoon of nine Mantis gunships departed from the Alliance airbase at Adana. Five Mantis-Cs, carrying infantry and the platoon HQ group, two Mantis-Ds to transport the two Riesig Assault Walkers, and two Mantis-E tankhunter gunships slipped out into the darkness on what would be the most important combat sortie of the entire invasion. Haider's plan was complex by necessity. Tarsus lay some four hundred kilometres west of the lines, and possessed formidable anti-aircraft defences. The city itself was built up but spread out. There were no skyscrapers or high rise buildings. Industry and housing for the workers dominated through. With the addition of tens of thousands of slaves arriving each day, the Protection Forces garrison grew with it, mostly consisting of mobile infantry without heavy armour support. The city was also the theatre headquarters for the entire New Cilicia front, courtesy of its supposed invulnerability from orbital attack. The Corporate Congress, confident that the Alliance would not risk casualties among the slaves, often placed their strategic directors in highly populated areas in lieu of kinetic barrier defences.

Using data from the Navy, Lieutenant Haider plotted a precise, low altitude course through these defences, so as to avoid corporate fighter patrols over the combat zone. By spoofing enemy IFF beacons and staying out of range of as many GARDIAN batteries as possible, the whole squadron made it without incident, despite several points at which their flightpath should have been questioned by Na'hesit air controllers. It is thought that they were mistaken for a squadron of corporate gunships, of which there were many coming and going in the days and weeks leading up to that night. A flight that should have taken only a few hours was greatly lengthened by the necessary manoeuvres, and it was morning when the platoon arrived over the skies of Tarsus itself. With the rising sun at their back, the gunships swooped onto the headquarters building, formerly the city hall, and began the attack.

The assault walkers were dropped directly into the courtyard as the tankhunters destroyed the two GARDIAN batteries, opening the way for four full squads and the command group to land on the roof. Most of the largely batarian garrison were still asleep in the adjacent barracks building when the two walkers shredded it with their 40mm gatling cannons. Secondary explosions caused a tunnel collapse into one of the bunkers below, accidentally burying several dozen prisoners as well as a number of interrogators. Haider led her squads on a top to bottom sweep of the main facility, encountering little in the way of resistance as she took possession of the entire continent's command and control apparatus. While none of the command staff were taken alive, as they had no illusions as to their fate after surrender, the lieutenant did manage to deactivate the encrypted communications systems, seize the encryption devices themselves, find plans for the massacres that the commander there had planned, and most crucially, discover a comprehensive map of the bunker system constructed hastily after the introduction of slavery. The entire defence of New Cilicia was compromised in a single stroke, if the information could be acted upon quickly enough.

Unfortunately, the fighting drew the attention of everyone in the city. From the outer rallypoints at the spaceport and the western barracks on the outskirts, the Protection Forces moved quickly to retake the building, despite a lack of tanks or artillery. However, this was complicated by the slave uprising that sparked off as a result of the explosions and smoke rising from the headquarters, visible from every part of the settlement. While Haider's troops consolidate their position during a few hours of relative calm, riots erupt across the entire urban area. Lightly armoured troop transports on the way to the government quarter were accosted by huge mobs of troops, armed with weapons scrounged from bodies of their overwhelmed guards. Rebel spies began coordinating these mobs by the middle of the day, as the corporate infantry withdrew under massive pressure to the safety of their defence cordons. General Sickle's response was immediate and brutal. In order to clear the way to the headquarters, that had to be retaken intact, he deployed his own Mantis gunships against the slaves. Hundreds died in the first half hour, before the survivors scattered and hid. The Protection Forces marched back in to clear the city, one building at a time.

Haider's situation began to grow desperate as well. Field Marshal DeRuyter, upon realising what the young lieutenant had done, duly informed her that a Titan drop on Tarsus was impossible due to the density of GARDIAN defences. Several N7 squads could be dropped by assault pod into the headquarters courtyard, and they eventually would be, but nothing larger than a person could be dropped without tripping the heat-sensor scans. Yet, Haider could do nothing to drop these defences from her end, and the Navy could not bombard them without killing huge numbers of the rioting slaves either. Meanwhile, civilians continued to put their lives on the line.

The answer came to the lieutenant in the late afternoon, as she was watching helplessly on a holographic map of the city. After activating the public broadcast system, Haider addressed the population of Tarsus, urging them to storm and destroy that anti-aircraft batteries, promising that the Alliance would arrive from space if they did so. Minutes later, she requested the N7 drop, not into her position but nearby each of the key GARDIAN batteries. It was a near-suicidal plan. Without significant reinforcement, the Protection Forces units moving towards the headquarters would overwhelm the tiny number of troops that she had at her disposal. Jiris Fighting Vehicles from the reserve areas to the east had been moved by shuttle, to make matters worse.

The action elsewhere proceeded much as Haider intended, however. All over Tarsus, slaves gathered and charged headlong at the AA batteries, and in numbers that made the morning riots look like a mere brawl. Thousands died in the attempts, despite the targets being poorly defended. Many were only taken after the arrival of N7s, but these batteries were taken intact and began swatting down corporate gunships. Within the hour, the only available orbital assault divisions of the Thirteenth Legion were arriving over the skies of the city in titans, their infantry and walkers deploying from there onto the streets under the cover of the flying fortresses' guns. Na'hesit forces, overwhelmed and disorganised, failed to create a coherent line of resistance anywhere. They found themselves surrounded in nearly twenty pockets across the city. The Thirteenth would dispatch them with typical brutality and efficiency over the next few days, destroying all buildings in areas of resistance and allowing slaves to deal with those that surrendered.

Haider's own situation became extremely desperate. Although the capture of the AA batteries had freed up her gunships to strike at will, the Protection Forces simply had too many troops at their disposal. By the time she was relieved by three titans from the 55th EU Orbital Assault Division, three quarters of her platoon were dead or incapacitated, and a batarian kill squad was in the building readying explosives to bring it down. The lieutenant herself had been wounded in the thigh and shoulder, and was still standing only due to the swift application of medigel. However, history has judged the sacrifice of the men and women under her command to have been worth it. The evidence that the Na'hesit was going to murder tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands or even millions of slaves, was absolutely conclusive. The military gains were also of paramount importance. Thanks to the mapping of bunkers and the cracking of the entire corporate coding system, there was now nowhere to hide.

**_Phase 9: New Cilicia Falls_**

General Sickle reacted to the liberation of Tarsus immediately. Rather than attempt to surround the city, which would leave a large part of his army exposed to attack from both the front and back, he had the Protection Forces make a fighting withdrawal over the hundreds of kilometres, trading distance for Alliance casualties at every turn, while keeping the rear of the army secure with airpower. By November 20th, the line settled about twenty kilometres to the west of Tarsus, following along the Cydnus River that divided the continent's western third from the rest. The Na'hesit forces settled in for the defensive, as the Twenty-First and Thirty-Second legions raced to the opposite bank, hot on the heels of straggling units. Out of the forests of the south and the plains of the north, the two legions converged. Together, they had taken some two hundred thousand casualties, permanent or otherwise, to get to the river.

It was here that the information captured by Haider began to show its worth.

DeRuyter had no intention of letting up the forward movement. The planetary assault cruisers of the Second Fleet began pinpoint bombardments of all the known bunker complexes on the western side of the river, rolling east to west. Na'hesit casualties were staggering. Whole units were buried alive or smashed to a paste by the hypervelocity hits to their bunkers. Behind these strikes, the Fifth Legion's combat formations advanced, moved up from reserve positions it had occupied since the beginning of the advance on Tarsus. It smashed the remnants of corporate formations directly ahead of it, and made for the city of Side, the last major urban area of the continent. As they moved, the Field Marshal ordered the rebels to agitate the slaves into rising up once again, and a repeat of the Tarsus uprisings resulted.

With his front line collapsing, his army in tatters, and Alliance titans dropping onto his last defensive redoubt unopposed as special forces aided by rebelling slaves destroyed his anti-aircraft weapons, Sickle knew he had lost the continent. On November 30th, he issued a set of orders. His best intact units were evacuated by shuttle to Waset, to aid in the defence of the capital. With them went all remaining gunships and neurally controlled fighters, along with the crews and pilots. Every other organised force was to move to uninhabited areas, and then to lay down arms. Given what happened in the following December, it is said that Sickle already knew he had lost. There were suggestions that resorting to guerilla war in the wilds would only result in more retribution, and so he moved to prevent that in the event of a complete defeat.

The next few days were frantic, as the Alliance were inundated with surrendering troops and also had the responsibility of seeing to the welfare of the slaves that turned out in massive crowds to welcome them into Side. As a result, Sickle's plan to withdraw was a complete success. However, nerves were fraying on Waset and in Dahshur.

**_Phase 10: Augustus_**

With the fall of New Cilicia, the Corporate Congress was deeply divided. With most of the planet now under Alliance control, they broke into three factions.

The largest believed that the time had come to flee to the Terminus Systems with as much mobile wealth as they could. This would require significant work on the part of the Protection Forces to help break the Alliance blockade. The majority of the Congress were not soldiers or warlords, and a healthy mix of both humans and batarians favoured this approach. Many had independent holdings in the Terminus to begin with, and the loss of their Anhur operations was not so great a loss to them as it might have otherwise appeared.

The second faction believed that flight was folly. To these executives, it was clear that the Alliance would never give up looking for them. The Defence Intelligence Directorate would send assassins and spies throughout unregulated space to hunt down and kill every last one of them, such was the visceral nature of human opinion on the subject. Surrender was the only option. The great bulk of the Congress that wished to surrender were human, but they were supported by the batarian merchant houses out of favour with Khar'shan, including the now-famous House Shaaryak. The Alliance had called for unconditional surrender, but it was thought that this was largely a rhetorical position for public consumption, that the real war was with the Hegemony.

Finally, there were the militarists. Largely made up batarian groups from the original Terminus coalition that had sponsored the first colonisations of Anhur, they thought the other two factions to be hopelessly naïve, to the point of being a dire threat to all their lives. Fleeing to the Terminus would result in their deaths, either by an Alliance sniper or mercenary gunmen. Surrender would see them imprisoned for the last of their days on Sidon, like the batarians and pirates that had attacked Elysium.

These disagreements turned into open conflict as the Alliance offensive on Waset opened with a lightning campaign against Dahshur on December 5th, with elements of the legions that had been engaged on Al-Kheb deploying. As the small adjoining continent was populated almost exclusively by batarians, DeRuyter felt no need to restrain the Navy in its orbital artillery support or the Army's titans. Public opinion would not be affected. The Protection Forces presence was shattered in a mere three days as a result, demonstrating the absolute superiority of any force that possesses both the will and capability to use space supremacy to its fullest. The Alliance took only minimal casualties, with permanent losses at less than five hundred. Civilian losses were massive. Some two hundred thousand died, millions were wounded and millions more were rendered homeless. Although many among them understood the need for the bombardments, others still found it a source of much resentment in the following years.

By December 10th, the small continent had fallen and the assault on Waset itself began with an offensive up the isthmus, as well as landings from New Cilicia as the full six legions were committed to ending the invasion. DeRuyter had no intention of allowing the fighting to continue into 2177, now that she had the strategic initiative.

The Corporate Congress finally splintered on the same day. A majority formed around surrender, as those who wished to escape and those who wished to surrender united around a plan to broker a ceasefire, in order to facilitate both. The militarists baulked at this, and ordered the Protection Forces to keep fighting despite the majority openly proclaiming their intentions. This played right into the hands of DeRuyter. Half of the slaver units surrendered as ordered, deactivating defences and stacking arms. The other half fought on, increasingly divided and eventually surrounded. To make matters worse, once the units that were going to surrender did so, the Field Marshal rejected all ideas of negotiated surrender, using the remaining forces in the field as the justification. She ordered every spaceworthy ship and shuttle strafed by the Navy's fighters and the Army's gunships in lightning raids on remaining enemy airbases and spaceports. There would be no escape, except by immediate and unconditional surrender.

Despite this, it still took another two weeks for the pockets of resistance to be crushed. Waset was the most heavily fortified of all the continents, and orbital bombardment was less effective against these as they were protected by both kinetic barriers and the close presence of human civilians. Eventually, the entire invasion force was compelled to adopt the savage tactics of the Thirteenth, as the remaining Na'hesit forces fought to the last man. These were inevitably a mix of batarian hardliners and human ultranationalists whom had fled from Earth, and although they hated each other, they now died together for a doomed cause.

Resistance finally collapsed on Christmas Day 2176, as the last enclave surrendered their arms to the Tenth Legion in the capital city of New Thebes. Anhur had been liberated.


	27. ANHUR: The Aftermath

THE BATTLE WON

The first months of 2177 saw the Alliance rear echelon soldiers move out of 'Cassandra's Bastion' on Uralis, and onto transports for preparation of the next part of the war. Replacing them were millions of refugees, mostly batarians from Dahshur but including ex-slaves of all species. Once they were secured, the combat troops of the Fifth, Tenth, Fourteenth, and Twenty-First legions were also moved to garrison positions elsewhere, while the Thirteenth and Thirty-Second legions guarded the refugee camps and the main spaceports. Conditions in the refugee camps were far better than what could be seen on the streets of many of the broken cities across Anhur, but the lack of work, quartering of different political groups together, and discrimination by Alliance soldiers in favour of humans pushed tensions higher. Riots were put down hard on three separate occasions, and the population was segregated into Council and non-Council species by decree in February.

The Alliance also collected some ten million prisoners over the course of the invasion, and these had to be dealt with. The solution was to spread out them over the planet, a precaution taken for a number of reasons. Another was to segregate human pro-slavery troops from the batarians and turian mercenaries who were to be sent to Sidon. The former were to be tried and imprisoned for treason, the latter would be interned as prisoners of war for release after the war. The reason for this separate arrangement was that word had arrived in the closing stages of the fighting that the Batarian Hegemony had declared Anhur part of its sovereign territory, in an attempt to muddle post-war ownership of the colony should they lose. Both were put to work in cleaning up rubbled streets and blasted buildings, however.

Irregular resistance to Alliance occupation began as soon as regular combat concluded, as did inter-community fighting. Due to the rapid advance across New Cilicia, Waset and Dahshur, there was a huge proliferation of weapons in the black market on the planet, particularly in the first weeks when military government had yet to be fully established. The weapons spread to every corner, not least to the refugee camps. Insurgency attacks against Alliance forces were repulsed with contempt, and in areas controlled by the Thirteenth Legion, they were met with immediate reprisals once the offending parties were identified and located.

Alliance losses for the invasion stage of the fighting were the heaviest in any engagement until the Eden Prime War of 2183. Of the thirty-six million troops deployed, more than a million were incapacitated at some point by disease or wounds. Some three hundred thousand lost their lives, a number thought of as massive by almost all galactic observers save for some of the more hardline turian generals, but one that humanity was willing to give. A few thousand more would die in the insurgency in the months afterwards.

Na'hesit losses were total. It is estimated that at least a quarter of their forces were killed in action, the great majority by the precision orbital bombardments against their bunkers. The rest surrendered at various points in the campaigns or are listed as missing, presumed dead. Despite calls for investigations into this data anomaly, Field Marshal DeRuyter refused access for independent investigators, and the civilian government that succeeded her governance of Anhur followed suit.

* * *

AFTER THE BATTLE

Soon after the successful invasion of Anhur, the Batarian Third Fleet attempted a breakout of the Viper Nebula against the Alliance Eighth Fleet, in an attempt to re-establish trade lines with the Terminus Systems and return the naval conflict to a mobile state. The attempt utterly failed, as the Alliance Navy had set up a series of ambush points along likely jump zones and discharge sites. The Batarians were beaten back despite superior numbers, and limped back to the orbit Arahoht to lick their wounds. It would be the last time the batarians would attempt a breakthrough operation during the war, as they attempted to wait until their new line of dreadnoughts and carriers were constructed.

This had an immediate benefit for the Alliance however; Field Marshal DeRuyter now had the full use of Admiral Hunt's Second Fleet to continue offensive operations in the Terminus Systems. Using Anhur as a base, she kept her formations from Troop Commands Afrika and Europa to accompany her newly freed up naval capability, and took advantage of the situation. This was the beginning of the famous march of the 'Grand Army' around the northern edge of the galactic core, a relentless advance that liberated or seized dozens of worlds in a crescent from asari space all the way to the border with the Verge. This would slowly cripple the ability of the Terminus warlords to pursue continued hostilities with the Alliance, as well as add important outposts to humanity's territory. The advance would continue through 2177 until it ended in 2178 on Torfan.

The success of the invasion also encouraged Alliance offensives elsewhere. To the south of the Verge, Troop Command Columbia under Field Marshal Martinez was dispatched to enter and defend the highly independent Yuki Cluster, a sector of space accessible to the Hegemony by regular FTL from their own southern clusters. The batarians would contest the space until the armistice itself, and the US, Mexican, South American and Brazilian forces stationed there would be hard pressed throughout. Most notable was the Akuze Incident, when troops of the US 101st Orbital Assault Division were attacked by a nest of Thresher Maws after receiving a false signal from a Cerberus operative. The dual offensive strategy restored Army confidence and prestige, lending it significant public support and ending talk of its subordination to the Navy.

The swiftness of the victory over the Corporate Congress shocked even Alliance analysts. The Citadel Council was no less surprised. Humanity had shown that the war wouldn't necessarily be a stalemate that would last for decades, as the asari and salarians had feared. The possibility of a complete human victory was now firmly in view, and none of the Council species wished to be seen as siding with the losing party. A motion to restore full access to all Council space was passed soon after the success, with the turians and salarians voting in favour and the asari abstaining. This helped to facilitate the war in the Terminus, which was an absolute necessity for the prosecution of the fighting against the pirate lords. This repaired much of the damage done to the Council's reputation in human circles, augmented in late 2177 by the addition of logistical support during the latter part of the Terminus offensives.

The political consequences within humanity were great as well. With Anhur in her pocket and Alliance forces on the advance in all sectors, Consul Nozomi Taro won a decisive wartime election victory in August 2177, assuring her rule until after the end of the Second Verge War. Alexander deBankole rose to be her right-hand in the coming term, the heir apparent With the political situation stabilised, planning for the final offensive against the heart of the Hegemony could begin. These plans could not be put into action until after the defeat of the pirates however, and so it would be late 2178 before the killing blow could be delivered.

The Batarian Hegemony's reaction to the liberation of Anhur was muted. Their commitment to the campaign was minimal to start with, but they still understood its value to their enemies. Anhur was the gateway to much of the space occupied by their Terminus allies, who would now face the full wrath of the Alliance without support. However, with the defeat of their Third Fleet in the attempted breakout of the Viper Nebula, there was nothing to be done about it. Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra is reported to have been entirely indifferent when news of the planet's fall reached his ears, remarking that "Anhur is nothing and nowhere." Nothing could be further from the truth.

* * *

Anhur saw great change in the years after the invasion, and not entirely for the better. Unable to control the increasing racial hatred, and nonetheless determined that the planet was to be one for humans primarily, Field Marshal DeRuyter took a fateful decision. Confronted by increasing violence from the batarians, she ordered their deportation en masse.

The moderate factions would be removed to a newly discovered garden world in the Attican Traverse, provided with colonisation equipment and logistical support, but removed nonetheless. Unsurprisingly, there was great resentment among these groups initially, but they came to appreciate the move. They named their new world "Shan'Kharit", or "Home of the Great Ones". This would later become the epicentre of batarian anti-Hegemony resistance in the years between the end of the Second Verge War and the Great Upheaval. The Hegemony loyalists and the extremist factions were not so lucky. They were scheduled to deported to the Terminus Systems via an Illium transportation contract brokered by the Eclipse. They resisted, albeit in different ways. The Hegemony loyalists went along with the deportation orders until they were aboard the passenger transports on Illium, at which point they broke free of their bonds and hijacked the ships. They would later join with the Anhur Protection Forces' fleet, which was still on the run from the battle and would become a menace to Alliance shipping until Torfan. The extremists resisted violently from the beginning, and were put to the sword by General Petrovsky's troops at every turn.

After the deportations, Anhur's human population began the hard process of rebuilding. Once the prisoners of war and human traitors were moved to Sidon, this became a difficult process. Unlike Elysium, there would be little funding for reconstruction, as it was still unsure whether or not the Citadel would allow the Alliance to keep the colony once the war was over. Things improved after the war, but reconstruction was still under way when the Reaper War began in 2186. The Reapers found the fighting on the planet more difficult than usual, as large numbers of bunkers and caves remained intact from the Verge War era. By the time of the Reapers' defeat, much of the work to restore Anhur was undone, and its population relies heavily on support to this day.

* * *

The International Tribunal for Anhur and Korlus began proceedings on Sidon in early 2178 with a large set of tasks ahead of it. First, it would need to deal with the captured leadership of the Corporate Congress. Second, some determination about the criminality of the actions of lower ranking pro-slavery humans would need to be made. Third, the actions of the Alliance's own military commanders would need to be examined. All three were controversial, particularly on the subject of jurisdiction.

In the case of the Na'hesit leaders, it was argued that the Citadel Council's own judiciary held the right to trial as opposed to the nations of the Alliance, as Anhur was a Citadel-chartered colony when the war began. After due consideration, the court decided that this was a valid argument, and suspended all charges of the Na'hesit leadership save for those that had refused surrender in the final days. Those that had offered to capitulate were transported to the Citadel for trial. Those that had refused and ordered the continuation of hostilities were tried for murder, slavery, and crimes against humanity. Seventeen were found guilty on the death penalty charges of slavery and crimes against humanity for the attempted genocide at Tarsus after a nine month trial. They were executed by firing squad in 2179. The remainder received life sentences either on murder charges or as part of negotiated settlements regarding their capital assets.

The human soldiers and officers of the Protection Forces were also tried by the tribunal. The prosecution wished to see them follow their masters either in front of rifles or into prison for the rest of their lives. Their defence attorneys argued that they were prisoners of war regardless of their species, and that they should be interned until the end of the war just like the turians and batarians captured in the invasion. The tribunal rejected both viewpoints. While the humans were indeed sworn soldiers of a belligerent state, they also remained human. As the Alliance was and is the sole legal representative of humanity, fighting against it as a human is treason regardless of their loyalties. All humans who fought for the Corporate Congress were sentenced to a minimum of fifteen years in prison in addition to any other charges relating to war crimes that individuals may have been found guilty of. This was a reduced sentence across the board, the sentencing hearing acknowledging that the prisoner-of-war issue was a serious mitigating factor.

The Alliance command staff were also questioned during the course of the tribunal as to their actions during the fighting, particularly with regard to orbital bombardments of civilian-occupied areas and the actions of the Thirteenth Legion throughout operations. DeRuyter appeared in person before the judges, and argued executive privilege in wartime to have the charges dismissed. The tribunal conceded this point, and no Alliance officer was tried as a result. However, the use of executive privilege to cover up what were effectively murders was extremely controversial among the more pacifist elements of the Alliance Parliament and public. The final word on the military conduct of the soldiers during the invasion would be heard later.

* * *

Field Marshal Cassandra DeRuyter was awarded the Star of Terra for the speed and completeness of the victory over the Corporate Congress. She remained Military Governor of Anhur until the end of the war, though allowed the planet to be ruled first by the leadership of the Anhur Republican Army and then by an elected parliament. She intervened only to safeguard Alliance interests on the planet. She would lead her troops on a glorious set of campaigns that linked both sides of Citadel space with a corridor through the Terminus, defeating independent colonial lords and pirate barons alike.

After the Second Verge War, she would be appointed as Chief of Staff of the Alliance Army, humanity's highest military position alongside her counterpart from the Navy. She would serve in this position through the Eden Prime War, the Great Upheaval, the Collectors' Crisis and the Reaper War, remaining at the heart of human military affairs through the galaxy's most crucial years. Her leadership during this time would be an essential factor in the victory that followed.

* * *

Colonel-General Oleg Petrovsky would remain in command of the Thirteenth Legion throughout the Terminus offensives until the end of the war. It was rumoured that he would eventually replace Field Marshal Martinez upon the retirement of the latter, but it was not to be. In 2182, the pressure to have him removed and tried for war crimes built up steam during a crucial election campaign. The Labour Party, unsure of victory, attempted to placate the Confederalists and Greens, both of whom were dovish in their sentiments. Unable to try Petrovsky for war crimes and keep DeRuyter, they simply removed him from command before the election itself. The General was furious, feeling betrayed by the Alliance utterly for the simple act of protecting humanity and its values. He was soon approached by Cerberus, and became the leader of their military forces in 2183. A General once again, he was largely responsible for their seizure of key human-majority Terminus colonies in the years leading up to the Collector Crisis and the building of their fleet. He would command the invasion and occupation of Omega during the Reaper War, until Shepard arrived to liberate the station.

* * *

Lieutenant Karla Haider was promoted to Captain for her actions on Anhur. She also received the Iron Cross of Honour for her intervention in Tarsus; Germany's highest military award, granted only to soldiers who risked their lives to defend civilians. However, her habit of interpreting orders liberally was deemed dangerous in a combat officer, and she was reassigned to the Intelligence section of the Twenty-First Legion where she excelled. Haider's abilities saw her move up to DeRuyter's intelligence staff, where she coordinated with naval intelligence operatives and discovered Torfan as the last redoubt of the Terminus pirates.

After the Second Verge War, she transferred to the Defence Intelligence Directorate and was promoted to colonel, her rapid rise assured by her political contacts and her genius for her duties. In 2181, she personally foiled an assassination plot by a ultraleft terrorist against the leader of the conservative People's Party and head of the parliamentary opposition, Alice Dennison. The terrorist planned to use an omnigel-created explosive device to bomb a party meeting. Haider burst in just in time with a team of First Legion specialists and shot the terrorist dead personally. Dennison never forgot who had saved her. When Dennison won the 2182 elections and forced a coalition government, Haider was promoted again to Major-General and became Army Director of the DID as well as chief intelligence liaison to the Consuls. This was a position she would keep until the start of the Reaper War, when circumstances would force her to take up political power in her own right. The rest is history.

* * *

General Sickle's fate remains as unknown as his real identity does. Given the circumstances of the end of fighting on Anhur, it seems unlikely that he could have escaped during the first few months after his defeat. This has led to great speculation that he either died during the last days of fighting or that he took on the disguise of a lower ranking officer in order to be taken prisoner and then flee. Historians favour the former view, given that almost every bunker on Waset and Dahshur was bombarded with penetrating orbital bombardments during Operation Augustus. Many of the higher ranking officers were killed in such a manner. Extranet conspiracy theorists prefer the latter theory, pointing out that many officers also survived the bombardments and the war generally, with those believing that Sickle was human being the most zealous in their belief that he got away to fight another day. These theories often connect with talk of shadowy commanders in the Terminus during the Reaper War, but are entirely without merit in the available evidence.

* * *

The Corporate Congress, or those members that were not tried by the International Tribunal, were tried by the Citadel Council Judicial Board on Colonisation in 2180 after years of protective custody. The delay in their trial was deemed necessary for the purposes of objectivity, but was also an expression of the power of the Council over humanity's demands for an immediate set of charges. When the members of the Congress were finally charged, they were again divided. Those who had voted for slavery were convicted of criminal breach of a Citadel treaty, depriving sentients of their freedom and fraud. Non-asari received thirty years, the few asari members and single krogan member received three hundred. Those that had voted against the motion to transform contracts into bonds of slavery were released, even if they had in fact cooperated with the slavers after the motion had carried. This division was grudgingly accepted by the Alliance on the condition that the assets of those released be transferred to a victims' fund. The Council agreed, having no wish to see the sharp end of private lawsuits if they refused.

* * *

Minister for Defence Alexander deBankole became a political star overnight as a result of the victory on Anhur, rising from an obscure member of cabinet to the would-be successor to Consul Taro. His strategic and logistical plan to take the planet worked out better than he had hoped, thanks in no small part to the tenacity of Field Marshal DeRuyter and the insight of Lieutenant Haider. Although he disapproved of the deportation of batarians from Anhur, he oversaw the resettlement of the moderates on Shan'Kharit and assured they were not simply left to their own devices. This won him support from the moderates in his own Parliament, who were left uncomfortable by the total war strategies of the Consul. By 2183, he had succeeded Taro as leader of his party and had held onto power, albeit in coalition, just in time for the Eden Prime War to begin. His paramount role in that conflict, particularly in preparing the Alliance economy for war once again and in negotiations with the quarians have secured his place in history, as the importance of those two factors cannot be understated in the final victory during the Reaper War itself.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** __The next chapter shall be "The Alliance Military: 2176-2183", an examination of the structure, size and leadership of the Alliance Army and Navy. This is in response to several questions about what a legion is exactly, why the two branches of the military are separate in this canon unlike the mother canon, etc etc._

_The next battle will be Torfan._


	28. THE ALLIANCE MILITARY 2176-83

**THE ALLIANCE MILITARY: 2176-83**

The Batarian Hegemony's successful attack on Mindoir provoked serious reforms in the Alliance military, reforms that would become the foundation stones of the forces that would beat the batarians themselves, the geth, and in concert with the other galactic powers, the Reapers. It represented the end of the era of military planning begun in 2165 with the entry of the Systems Alliance into the Citadel group and the institution of the Army Legion System.

The structural changes to be made were laid out in the 2173 White Paper on Defence and Colonial Affairs, a bipartisan research effort began after the 2172 general election but largely the work of the new Minister for Defence and future Consul, Alexander deBankole. The themes were simple but revealing. Expansion, extended reach and more responsibility. The largest military build up in the history of humankind began as a result, and although it slowed in the interwar period between 2178 and 2183, it would not cease until the end of the Reaper War.

The White Paper laid out several objectives for the Alliance to reach by the middle of 2177. Strengthening the Army, Navy and Colonial Defence Forces was the first, with the goal being to have 3% of all humans under arms by the middle of the decade. In comparison to the turians or batarians, this figure looks modest, but the second goal was to be greatly increasing the quality of human forces to the point of outmatching any opponent on a one-to-one basis. Other goals included the expansion of the Alliance Defence Intelligence Directorate, using soft power to promote humanity's interests among the Citadel species, investing in alliances elsewhere against common threats, and a great increase in domestic law enforcement capability via the colonial gendarmes of the member states.

These goals would largely be accomplished, despite the time to test them coming a year and a half early. By the time of the Second Verge War, all these goals had been achieved save for the Navy's expansion, which was still under way when the attack on Elysium was repulsed.

The military would remain largely unchanged in structure and strength until the end of the Geth War, when the threat of the Reapers and commitments in the Terminus Systems and the Perseus Veil required further expansion.

* * *

**The Alliance Army**

_Size and Organisation_

The Alliance Army was and is the service section responsible for both land combat and atmospheric aerial combat, as well as the maintenance and deployment of the trans-relay ballistic missile deterrence and part of the strategic bomber forces as part of humanity's WMD triad. It was composed of some three hundred million service personnel in all fields of duty. About half were combat troops, and half of those were classed as "assault troops" capable of independent offensive operations. The rest were the various support and rear echelon soldiers required to maintain the smooth operation of the combat forces, as well as for the provision of logistics and humanitarian aid.

Every combat unit's personnel is recruited from a nation, a region of a nation or a colony of a nation from Earth. This reflects the political reality of the Systems Alliance as a confederal entity as opposed to that of a central government. It was also a necessity, both at the time of the founding of the authority and afterwards. Units staffed from the same culture, speaking the same language and sharing the same values were considered to be superior than integrated units for various reasons. Language was the primary factor, as neural-link translators were and remain expensive. Most humans must learn their mother tongue, a second human language and an alien language in the course of their lives, the latter most usually being Sari, the trade language of the asari. Integrating personnel that speak one of the hundreds of languages of Earth, even with the presence of English as the lingua franca, would have been more difficult than simply placing the same personnel with their fellows.

The national nature of Alliance Army units also reflects the need to prevent secession of colonies by associating colonial troops with the original colonising nations. This is particularly important to human leadership, as turian colonial secessionism is a constant theme in Citadel defence politics. It is hoped that the cultural differences of humanity are slowly eroding, to the extent that these measures will no longer be necessary, but as of Victory Day 2196, the Alliance Army continues to segregate its combat units by nationality.

In addition to the active service personnel, the Alliance Army was also made responsible for the training and equipping of the 'reserve' forces, namely the national military units stationed on Earth, the colonial defence units and the armed response sections of the police forces. These can be called up and placed under Army command after a declaration of a state of emergency or during an enemy action. When not subordinated, they engage in civil engineering works and act as an aid to civil power in concert with the police. They number around two hundred and fifty million in total, only about a third of whom are employed full time.

_Structure_

The Alliance Army is structured into three supreme strategic commands; Troop Command Afrika, Troop Columbia, and Troop Command Europa.

Each is the administrative element responsible for a third of the Army's strength, both active and reserve. Each has a Field Marshal, one of whom will be the Chief of Staff for the Army, the highest ranking officer of the Alliance Army. Each is organised by the continent of Earth where its troops come from and their colonies.

Afrika for the forces of the African Union and African-occupied Asia.

Columbia for the forces of the United States, Mexico, the South American Federation and Brazil

Europa for the European Union and its Asian territories, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Bhutan, Australia and New Zealand

The largest combat formation in the Army is the legion. Troop Command Europa possesses seventeen legions, while the other two Troop Commands field sixteen.

Aside from the First Legion, which is the special forces command unit of the Alliance, every legion is a formation of six million soldiers. Legions are commanded by field marshals or colonel-generals (_oberstgeneral_), the former being a political appointment as well as a military rank. Only a colonel-general may be raised to the rank of Field Marshal. A legion is a self contained unit with all the personnel and equipment required to fight an independent planetary campaign without any other personnel or externally sourced equipment. In practice, more than one legion can be required to take heavily populated or defended worlds, but for the majority of garden worlds, the number of troops, vehicles and equipment a single legion provides is more that sufficient. Legions are numbered and named, often in Latin in Troop Command Europa and Troop Command Columbia.

The next formation down from a legion is the Task Force. Each legion possesses thirty task forces of one hundred thousand combat soldiers each. Task forces are commanded by lieutenant-generals, and they are the standard garrison strength of a typical minor Alliance colony, a reform implemented after Mindoir. Each task force is made up of a mix of divisions tailored for the fighting expected to be assigned to it. Task Forces are often grouped together in ad hoc 'fronts' when on deployment in high intensity combat, sometimes with others from other legions.

Support units in a legion are not organised by task force, but include units for Signals, Weapons/Ammunition, Ground Logistics, Space Logistics, Non-Combat Engineering, EOD, Hospital and Medical, Maintenance, Meteorology, Topography, Military Police, RADAR/LADAR/Sensory Gathering, Psyops, Blue Ocean Naval Support, and UAV/Drone control. Other personnel like psychologists, cooks and leisure staff are not provided centrally, but are usually employed at the division level.

Alliance Army Airforces are organised in their own structures under an Army Legion by Wing, Squadron, Flight and Section to provide air supremacy and ground attack support to the ground forces, as well as planet-based space supremacy capability to the Navy in-orbit.

The First Legion encompasses special forces commands, elite field units and ceremonial guards of Alliance member states, and operates as the combat arm of the Defence Intelligence Directorate along with the Alliance Navy's N7 Programme graduates. It is larger than a task force and smaller than a standard legion, and its activities are classified as sensitive at the least and are entirely undocumented at the most secret.

Combat Divisions are commanded by Major-Generals, and there are ten in a task force. The types of combat divisions fielded by the Alliance are more varied than with any other galactic power; Armoured, Air Assault, Mobile Infantry, Mechanised Infantry, Mountain Infantry, Orbital Assault, Panzergrenadier, and Anti-Aerospace.

After the combat divisions, the units move through brigade, regiment, company, platoon and section until the squad level, the smallest official combat unit in the Alliance military, consisting of eight soldiers and a flock of drones.

* * *

_Troop Command: 100,000,000 soldiers in 16/17 Legions._

_Legion: 6,000,000 soldiers total, 3,000,000 in 30 Task Forces, 3,000,000 in numerous support formations, composition varies according to national/colonial origins_

_Task Force: 100,000 soldiers in ten divisions, supported by air and logistics units, composition varies rarely_

_Division: 10,000 soldiers in 4 brigades, composition varies by divisional combat role_

* * *

_Alliance Army Order of Battle 2183 – Pre-Geth War_

_Legion nationalities reflect only forces with a task force or larger. Other nations may contribute at division level or lower. Also, Europe and Africa occupy the territories of former sovereign states in Asia and recruit directly from those populations, which explains the overwhelming number of formations named and 'recruited' for the victors of the 2139-45 Cold War. _

* * *

TROOP COMMAND AFRIKA [XXXXXXX]

Field Marshal Jon Bonhomme commanding

Legions

6th Nigerian, 10th South African, 14th Kenyan, 16th Angolan, 17th West Africa, 20th Ivorian, 23rd Chad, 26th Ugandan, 28th Madagascar, 30th Mozambique, 32nd Great Ethiopian, 38th Zambian, 40th African, 43rd Cameroon, 46th Zimbabwe, 48th Congolese

Battle Honours: First Contact War 2157, First Verge War Defence 2170, Skyllian Blitz 2176, Liberation of Anhur 2176, March Around The Core 2177, Victory Second Verge War 2178, Kite's Nest Watch 2178-83.

* * *

TROOP COMMAND COLUMBIA [XXXXXXX]

Field Marshal Anna Reynolds-Augusta commanding

Legions

3rd Brazilian, 4th American-Mexican "Libertas", 7th South American "Bolivaria", 8th Argentinian "Argentum", 12th Columbian "Veritas", 18th Chilean "Virtus", 22nd Venezuelan, 24th Bolivian "Alpina", 27th Guyana-Suriname, 29th American, 34th Mexican, 36th Brazilian, 39th Argentinian "Gemina", 41st Peruvian, 42nd Ecuadorian, 44th Uruguayan.

Battle Honours: First Contact War 2157, First Verge War Strikeback 2170, First Verge War Defence 2170, Traverse Defence 2171-73, Skyllian Blitz 2176, Yuki Cluster 2176-78, Victory Second Verge War 2178, Terminus Incursion 2179.

* * *

TROOP COMMAND EUROPA [XXXXXXX]

Field Marshal Cassandra DeRuyter commanding.

Legions:

2nd British-Canadian-Australian-NZ "Britannia", 5th European "Europa", 9th Greek-Cypriot "Magna Graecia", 11th Spanish "Hispania", 13th Nordic-Canadian-Irish "Borealis", 15th European "Victrix", 19th Balkans "Pax Prompter Vim", 21st German "Germania", 25th French "Fratres", 31st Italian "Italia", 33rd Polish "Imperium", 35th Japanese "Nippon", 37th Punjabi-Nepalese-Bhutan "Trans Indus", 45th European "Unitas", 47th Romanian, 49th Korean, 50th Chinese-Mongolian.

Battle Honours: First Contact War 2157, First Verge War Strikeback 2170, Traverse Defence 2173-76, Defence of Elysium 2176, Liberation of Anhur 2176, March Around The Core 2177, Invasion of Torfan 2178, Victory Second Verge War 2178, Turian-Human Grand Exercise 2180.

* * *

FIRST LEGION [XXXXX]

Major-General Karla Haider and Rear-Admiral Federic Kohaku commanding as Directors of the Defence Intelligence Directorate

Non-ceremonial Formations:

Australian 1st and 2nd Commando Regiments

Austrian Jagdkommando

Canadian Special Operations Aviation Squadron, Special Operations Regiment

Chilean Special Operations Brigade

Danish Frogman Corps

Finnish Jaeger Company

French 13th Air Assault Dragoon Regiment, 4th Special Forces Airmobile Regiment, Orbital Assault Commandos, French Foreign Legion, French Republican Guard

German Special Operations Division, Kampfschwimmer, Luftwaffensicherungsstaffel S

Greek 1st Raider Brigade

Hungarian Light Mixed Battalion

Irish Army Ranger Wing

Israeli Alpinist Unit, Sayeret Units

Italian 9th Orbital Assault Regiment Moschin, Alpini Air Assault Regiment

Japanese Special Forces Group

Kenyan Special Operations Battalion

Netherlands Dutch Command Troop Corps

New Zealand Special Air Service

Nigerian 72nd Special Forces Battalion

Palestinian Intervention Battalion

Polish JWK

Korean Special Warfare Command

Serbian Special Brigade

South African 4th and 5th Special Forces Regiments

Spanish Joint Operations Command

Swiss Army Reconnaissance Detachment

Turkish Maroon Berets

Ukrainian Spetsnaz, Alpha Group

(British) United Kingdom Special Air Service, Special Recon Regiment, Special Forces Transportation Wing, Royal Gurkha Regiments.

United States Delta Force, Flight Concepts Division, Special Warfare Development Group, Air Special Operations Squadron, 75th Ranger Regiment, Air Force Special Operations Command.

Venezuelan SO Air Groups

* * *

**The Alliance Navy**

_Size and Organisation_

The Alliance Navy operates all faster-than-light military vessels and craft available to humanity, as well as the WMD deterrence frigates and part of the strategic bomber forces. There were some six million personnel in the Alliance Navy, a mere one percent of the manpower assigned to that of the Army. Despite this, it received two thirds of the military procurement budget of the Systems Alliance. The Navy's combat capabilities consisted of five thousand vessels organised into eight combat fleets and a deterrence fleet, manned by one and a half million crew personnel. These are supported by an unknown number of non-combat ships, another one and a half million technologists, engineers, procurement oficers, and lastly, a million naval infantry soldiers.

Unlike the Army, the Navy's recruitment is fully integrated, ignoring national or colonial origins. Candidates from the more cosmopolitan colonies such as Eden Prime and diverse areas of Earth are preferred, but not exclusively so. The educational standards to enter the Navy are high, even when joining the N programme. Fluency in English and Sari is compulsory, as is high mathematics and physical scores. Officer candidates are educated on Arcturus, either being recruited directly from the very best of new enlistments or coming from the best enlisted veterans from within the ranks.

Moves to subordinate the Army to the Navy have occurred on three occasions in human history, but were successfully resisted. At the founding of the Systems Alliance, there was great public debate on the subject that favoured keeping the traditional division between the services. This did not extend to the proposed Alliance Air Force, which was seen as superfluous as atmospheric aerial combat was best organised in support of the Army's original defensive role. In 2171, the idea of a merger under Naval auspices was discussed again in the aftermath of Mindoir, in light of the threatened coup d'etat that forced the brief Alliance counterattack against the Hegemony. This was thrown aside in 2172, with the arrival of a new government in favour of greater militarisation. Finally, the merger was proposed again in 2178 after the invasion of Torfan. It was thought that the division of the services allowed them to play each other off when talk of criminal charges against military officers was brought up, leaving the evidence chain clouded up with jurisdiction issues to the point of preventing prosecutions. That attempt was defeated by a close margin in a closed session of the Alliance Senate, in an atmosphere of deep division over the actions of Jane Shepard.

Aside from its combat and defence roles, the Alliance Navy was and is used for showing the flag missions, and for the transportation of high government officials to their destinations in safety. It was also charged with the operation of the semi-secret Corsair programme, whereby human privateers were armed with specially designed torpedo corvettes to harass shipping and pirate hideouts in the Terminus Systems.

_Structure_

The Alliance Navy has a single administrative formation, Space Command Terra. It was created in 2148 as a European formation, but it became the first integrated command of the Systems Alliance in 2150, some fifteen years before full integration of the Army into under Alliance command. Space Command Terra is led by the Chief of Staff for the Navy, whom has to be an Admiral of one of its fleets. Space Command Terra also encompasses the command of the million naval infantrymen and marines under the N Programme, whose command structure mimics that of an Army Legion but whose personnel use naval and marine ranks. Furthermore, every marine beyond an N5 is trained for the command of ships in order to infuse the natural aggression of that part of the service into the mindset of the command staff. This makes Alliance naval commanders some of the most proactive and least conservative in the galaxy, as the culture is influenced from below.

The largest combat formation in the Fleet, commanded by Admirals and Rear-Admirals. There were eight combat fleets and a deterrence fleet at the start of 2183.

First Fleet: "The Home Fleet" based at Arcturus for the defence of Sol

Second Fleet: "The Grand Fleet" based at Anhur for expeditionary operations in the western Terminus

Third Fleet: "The Guardian Fleet" based at Arcturus for conventional deterrence against aggression by the Citadel Council.

The Fourth Fleet: "The Watch" based at Shan'Kharit for defence of the Traverse from Terminus pirates

The Fifth Fleet: "The Arcturus Fleet" based at Arcturus for exploration, offensive operations and allied operations with Citadel Forces.

The Sixth Fleet: "The Exodus Fleet" based at Terra Nova for defence against the Batarian Hegemony in concert with the jumpzone defence stations

The Seventh Fleet: "The Westfold" based at Czarnobóg Fleet Depot, for defence of the western frontier from unopened mass relays and the Krogan DMZ.

The Eighth Fleet: "The Victors of Elysium" based at Elysium for defence against the Batarian Hegemony

Deterrence Fleet: "Death's Own" based at the DID Naval Headquarters on Mars.

Each combat fleet consists of six combat groups; two carrier groups, two cruiser groups, and two frigate scout groups, each consisting of a hundred ships, sixty to seventy five of which will be combat vessels. The deterrence fleet consists of four sorties of twenty five, divided into mission sections of five ships. Like the Army Legion, the Navy Fleet is a self-contained formation that is expected to be able to pacify a cluster without further support. Only in full fleet actions is it normal for an entire fleet to be gathered for operations, and such instances are rare. Normally, the groups are stationed on rotation to garrison points and patrols across the vast expanse of space. It may take days or even weeks for ships on long range patrols to return. Such problems arose at the start of the Geth War, such as at the Battle of Therum where a combat group of the Fifth Fleet could only call on a fraction of its paper strength. This is why most fleets remain in defensive roles, with their groups stationed within a single relay jump of each other and a mere handful more to their defence points.

The naval infantry and marines are divided between the fleets into divisions, of which there are fifty. Usually, somewhere between a third and a quarter of a ship's crew will be marines or naval infantry, with lower rated personnel filling enlisted naval roles as well. Human ships carried more personnel than any other species save for the quarians. Aside from ship duty, marines are used to test the Army's defences on a regular basis in simulated invasion exercises, the rivalry between the services provided a degree of realism and a lack of hesitation.

Below groups are patrols and wolfpacks, the former describing cruiser squadrons and the latter describing frigate squadrons. These are commanded by the captain with the longest time served, and are formed on an ad hoc basis with a formal procedure. This gives the Alliance great tactical flexibility, allowing Group-Captains to piece together whatever ships they feel will do the job most effectively.

Aside from fleets, the Alliance Navy operates a number of bases. Among these are the Luna Shipyards located on the far side of Earth's moon, the Mars Development Yards for the construction of new classes of ship, the three Arcturus-class spacebases in Arcturus, Anhur and Shan'kharit respectively, and the fleet maintenance yards and orbital defence stations on the batarian border.

* * *

_Alliance Navy Order of Battle 2183 Pre-Geth War_

FIRST FLEET

Admiral Ines Lindholm commanding

Roster:

Carrier Group 1 – SSV Niké leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Carrier Group 2 – SSV Nemain leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Patrol Group 1 – SSV Horus leading (Thor-class Dreadnought)

Patrol Group 2 – SSV Roma leading (Belfast-class Heavy Cruiser)

Scout Group 1 – SSV Alesia leading (El Alemein-class Frigate)

Scout Group 2 – SSV Sekigahara (Agincourt-class Frigate)

* * *

SECOND FLEET

Admiral Petra Hunt commanding

Roster:

Carrier Group 3 – SSV Victoria leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Carrier Group 4 – SSV Freya leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Patrol Group 3 – SSV Wotan leading (Thor-class Dreadnought)

Patrol Group 4 – SSV Perseus leading (Heracles-class Dreadnought)

Scout Group 3 – SSV Lepanto leading (Agincourt-class Frigate)

Scout Group 4 – SSV Berlin leading (El Alemein-class Frigate)

* * *

THIRD FLEET

Admiral JJ Walker commanding

Roster:

Carrier Group 5 – SSV Pele (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Carrier Group 6 – SSV Kali (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Patrol Group 5 – SSV Thor (Thor-class Dreadnought)

Patrol Group 6 – SSV Yokohama (Belfast-class Heavy Cruiser)

Scout Group 5 – SSV Kerak (Agincourt-class Frigate)

Scout Group 6 – SSV Clontarf (Agincourt-class Frigate)

* * *

FOURTH FLEET

Admiral Okajima Rokuro commanding

Roster:

Carrier Group 7 – SSV Ishtar leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Carrier Group 8 – SSV Bellona leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Patrol Group 7 – SSV Heracles leading (Heracles-class Dreadnought)

Patrol Group 8 – SSV Brasilia leading (New York-class Cruiser)

Scout Group 7 – SSV Guadalcanal (El Alemein-class Frigate)

Scout Group 8 – SSV Granicus (Agincourt-class Frigate)

* * *

FIFTH FLEET

Admiral Steven Hackett Commanding

Roster:

Carrier Group 9 – SSV Athena leading (Athena-class Fleet Carrier)

Carrier Group 10 – SSV Valkyria leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Patrol Group 9 – SSV Mars leading (Thor-class Dreadnought)

Patrol Group 10 – SSV Belfast leading (Belfast-class Heavy Cruiser)

Scout Group 9 – SSV Normandy leading (Normandy-class Stealth Frigate) *reassigned to OSTR*

Scout Group 10 – SSV Pavia leading (Agincourt-class Frigate)

*OSTR: Office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance

* * *

SIXTH FLEET

Admiral João Rossi commanding

Carrier Group 11 – SSV Oya leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Carrier Group 12 – SSV Andarta leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Patrol Group 11 – SSV Ares leading (Thor-class Dreadnought)

Patrol Group 12 – SSV Baltimore leading (Belfast-class Heavy Cruiser)

Scout Group 11 – SSV Plataea leading (El Alemein-class Frigate)

Scout Group 12 – SSV Antietam leading (Agincourt-class Frigate)

* * *

SEVENTH FLEET

Admiral Eve Gonzalez-O'Neill commanding

Roster:

Carrier Group 13 – SSV Morrigan leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Carrier Group 14 – SSV Neith leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Patrol Group 13 – SSV San Diego leading (Belfast-class Heavy Cruiser)

Patrol Group 14 – SSV Singapore leading (New York-class Cruiser)

Scout Group 13 – SSV Baghdad leading (El Alemein-class Frigate)

Scout Group 14 – SSV Suez (Agincourt-class Frigate)

* * *

EIGHTH FLEET

Admiral Luka Milos commanding

Roster:

Carrier Group 17 – SSV Astarte leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Carrier Group 18 – SSV Menhit leading (Niké-class Fleet Carrier)

Patrol Group 17 – SSV New Delhi (New Delhi-class Cruiser)

Patrol Group 18 – SSV Bogotá (New Delhi-class Cruiser)

* * *

DETERRENCE FLEET

Under the direct command of the Consuls of the Systems Alliance

Roster:

Hades Deterrence Group - SSV Thermopylae leading

Dis Deterrence Group - SSV Okinawa leading

Tartarus Deterrence Group - SSV Churubusco leading

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_

_This section reflects my understanding of the game canon, as well as my own additions via Battlefield 2183 as a series. Bioware is quite inconsistent in terms of information on navies. The Quarians, Geth and Turians have thousands of ships, yet the loss of a dozen Alliance cruisers is a big deal. The crew compliment of a batarian cruiser is around three hundred, yet some Alliance cruisers apparently have only eighty. I smoothed over these problems with what I found most likely to be realistic. The major powers have thousands of ships, and hundreds of millions of soldiers, as the galaxy is a massive place and that is required._

_Bear in mind that the 2183 population of humanity in my canon is 20 billion._

_This section will also probably be moved from after Anhur to a place before Elysium, as it's best suited there I think._

_Happy New Year!_


	29. TORFAN: Prelude to Battle

**THE VERGE CONFLICT: **

**Second Verge War: _Battle of Torfan (2178)_**

"_As our moment of triumph approached, the batarians turned once again to the tactics of the terrorist, in contravention of all natural law and against all principles of civilised warfare. Words like genocide, mass murder, and war crimes are thrown about without any regard for the circumstances we were facing. We were merely responding in kind, in the only currency the Hegemony seemed to respond to. Of all people, Shepard understood this best. She saw their depravity first hand. _**_\- Nozomi Taro, Consul of the Systems Alliance, 2180 Interview_**

_I hope God forgives us, because the batarians may never do so. _**_\- Alice Dennison, Leader of the Alliance Parliamentary Opposition, 2179 Hearing on Military Ethics_**

* * *

Eight years after Mindoir, a year and a half after the lightning victory on Anhur, the war at last came to Torfan. It would be brought by one Lieutenant Jane Shepard, an Alliance Navy N7, under the command of the Army Biotic Assault Team led by Major Warren Kyle. The hour of vengeance for all the suffering of humanity's outer colonies had tolled, and would fall upon the batarians of Torfan like a hammerblow. For humanity, it was a glittering triumph, a warning to the rest of the galaxy about what happens to any group that threatens the safety of her people. For much of the rest of the galaxy, it was the startling realisation that they had invited wolves into their midst, but also that their potential was great. The batarians for their part would not hear of the battle until after open hostilities had ended, but it was a huge strike against their pride as a species. In the Terminus, the consequences would be felt for a long time, not least in the lead up to the Reaper War.

Shepard would accomplish a spectacular feat of individual soldiery in the face of overwhelming odds, yet this would come to pass as a result of multiple violations of the established laws of war and at a cost of tens of thousands of batarian lives. For the first time in the Verge Conflict, civilians would be targeted deliberately rather than as a means to an end. This was of dubious military necessity, despite the civilians engaging in slavery. The entirety of an elite Alliance unit would be wiped out in the process as well, dying in the line of duty to allow their fellows to arrive from orbit.

Torfan was to be a minor battle by the standards of the war. Only two Alliance Army taskforces from a single legion were to be dropped. Only two Alliance Navy combat groups from a single fleet would be deployed in space. Hegemony forces were limited to a single company of External Forces and badly armed volunteers organised in secret. The most crucial part of the battle would be a company-scale action. Yet the name of the small, barely habitable moon would ring out across the galaxy. Its association with the lengths that the Systems Alliance were willing to go for security and victory would push humanity to the very brink, and then towards her apex. The Citadel's attitudes would change too, both towards humanity and towards its own policies on warfare. The fighting would make a legend.

Jane Shepard. The Angel of Death. The Butcher of Torfan.

* * *

Anhur was the end for the Hegemony's grand strategy. Any potential for offensive action by its agents, the pirates and the mercenary companies was dismantled in its aftermath. The batarians' attempt to breakout of the Viper Nebula during the battle failed utterly when the Alliance Eighth Fleet broke it. This freed up one fleet for expeditionary purposes. 2177 was to become a hell year for the batarians. Field Marshal Cassandra DeRuyter and Admiral Petra Hunt led a blitz campaign around the galactic core in the Terminus Systems. Deeper in Terminus space, Alliance intelligence operatives caused further damage to the batarian cause when they successfully assassinated the commodores of the Anhur Protection Forces' former fleet, that had fled from the battle. This fleet then fell into the hands of Aria T'loak in obscure circumstances, removing the Hegemony's most important asset outside of the Alliance blockade.

To add to their problems, the Hegemony was beaten back from the Yuki Cluster, an 'interface' region of space that was close enough so that non-relay FTL travel between batarian space and the Skyllian Verge was possible. Troop Command Columbia thus had successfully occupied one of the Hegemony's inner clusters, though this was by far the least productive for their war efforts and so was strategically unimportant once the threat of naval breakout had been eliminated. By 2178, the Hegemony had no vectors to take the fight to the Alliance and its pirate allies had been rendered entirely combat ineffective, fleeing from Eclipse. However, the Alliance remained unable to challenge the Hegemony for the rest of its territory, and the standoff across the relays continued. Both sides would work to break it however they could.

For the Hegemony, this meant the use of extreme tactics. Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra may not have had any fleets or armies that could directly challenge human military power, but he did have an asset left, one he gained as a direct result of his enemy's success. Under the direction of General Gadnalak, the Batarian External Forces had long prepared for such a situation. Stay-behind troops disguised as civilians had been organised from the start, perhaps indicating the General's lack of faith in his leader's abilities as a result of the trust shown in Elanos Haliat. When the Alliance occupied the Verge in 2176 after the Battle of Elysium, these forces remained dormant. The General also remained behind, though this is assumed by the fact that his troops remained organised rather than demonstrated by any evidence. However, by the end of 2177, the Arch-Hegemon had managed to message his commander. A suicide mission by a batarian frigate managed to transmit a message over the extranet, a propaganda film with an encoded set of orders.

Civilians began disappearing all over the Verge within days. Some were collaborators, some were relations of high value Alliance personnel, most were simply vulnerable to kidnapping. At first, few people realised there was any connection between the kidnappings, as they were geographically dispersed. This did not last long. Children began being removed, and by the latter third of 2177, there was a general panic in human colonies and occupied batarian worlds across the Verge. Speculation as to their fate was rife. The Alliance Consuls were increasingly under pressure.

The batarian intents were three-fold. One, they intended to terrorise the populations of the Verge and embarrass the Alliance. Two, they required money for payments to mercenaries. Three, they needed to continue the fight in the most effective way possible to bring humanity to the negotiation table. Both Ar'dra and Gadnalak believed that negotiated resolution via the Citadel was the only solution available, though the former embraced the possibility only as the next move to continue the broader conflict. In order to fulfil these goals, the External Forces begin to sell the captives on the black market as slaves.

Consul Taro ordered a full review of cargo traffic from the regions affected by the Defence Intelligence Directorate. This led directly to the Theshaca Raids, a series of small attacks by the Alliance First Legion on the moons of that world as well as extensive monitoring of FTL trajectories from its drive discharge orbits. Karla Haider, now a colonel in the Defence Intelligence Staff, successfully analysed the pattern against a large number of possible locations. Eight pirate anchorages were discovered and interdicted by Alliance Navy combat groups. Yet the slaves were nowhere to be found. Those that had already been sold were intercepted in the Terminus by Alliance or mercenary agents, but these were too few to represent the bulk of the kidnapped. However, there was only one habitable world with enough cargo traffic to hide this activity in the cluster; Torfan.

This represented a serious problem for the Alliance. Torfan's defences were unimpressive, its armed forces even less competent than that of batarian conscript armies, its ecology only just able to support complex life without terraforming intervention. It had been colonised by the batarians in 2160s during the scramble for territory, and it was among only three batarian exclaves not occupied by the Alliance Army. This distinction arose from two sensitive political issues. First of all, the governor of Torfan was a known batarian subversive, able to keep his position in the years after Mindoir due to his impeccable breeding alone. The Arch-Hegemon had tried to have him assassinated at least seven times, making him a likeable figure even among humans. Secondly, Torfan had become a refugee 'safety valve' world for batarians escaping Alliance occupations across the inner Terminus and in the Attican Traverse. Camps were set up all over the planet to house the refugees, and there was much traffic in space as a result. This presaged Torfan's post-war role as a minor spacehub.

Both of these situations made any intervention on Torfan a very risky proposition politically. The Alliance government was very sensitive towards Citadel opinion as their own plans for the next stage of the war progressed apace. The Consul was satisfied with having destroyed the slavers' transport infrastructure, but the subjects of the slaves already taken and the External Forces soldiers remained on the table. Fiery debate began behind the closed doors of the parliamentary committees on defence and colonial affairs. Questions were asked about why there had been no strike against the moon, why was the Consul refusing to attack slavers. The truth was related to Taro's own plans for the war, plans that would bear fruit in the future but were entirely secret at the time. Thus, it would not be the government that forced the issue to a head, but the opposition in a masterstroke of political manoeuvring.


	30. TORFAN: The Leaders

THE LEADERS

**Alice Dennison**, _Leader of the Alliance Parliamentary Opposition_

Alice Dennison was a rapidly rising political star at the time of Torfan, standing as the head of the centre-right People's Party. Born in the United States in 2131 to parents of the very highest means, she was one of the most wealthy heiresses in the history of humanity. Her family was instrumental in forcing the European Union to share mass effect technology with the rest of humanity in the aftermath of the Cold War, as well as in the foundation of the Systems Alliance, giving her name weight even before she had even come into her family's wealth. She acquired the family fortune before First Contact, and she sought to expand her influence, first via business. Her corporations were the first to introduce chocolate and human cultural media to the galactic stage, industries that were initially extremely lucrative and continued to bring in money afterwards. Her transition to politics began when she followed profit margins from chocolate to colonisation, just as the Batarian Hegemony began threatening the Alliance.

Her political awakening was swift and highly publicised. She joined Anka Gasperi's Conservative Party, eventually becoming the consistent voice of the war hawks in a party that largely valued fiscal restraint on military spending as well as diplomatic solutions to conflict offered by the Citadel. Her motivations were two-fold. She was outraged that humans had to kowtow to alien powers, despite having the potential to become a galactic power in their own right, and she saw glittering possibilities for the Traverse and even the Terminus if the batarians could only be brought to heel. These twin planks became the basis for her foundation of the People's Party in 2170, as the Conservative ideology of diplomacy and fiscal restraint failed humanity utterly at Mindoir.

In August 2177, she had led the People's Party to finally usurp the place of the Conservative Party as the leading movement of the political right, promising to keep up the pressure on the batarians and to root them out entirely if elected. While her party did not end up winning the election, largely due to the success of the Alliance invasion of Anhur, it did become the second largest party and this position gave her great influence. The Consuls had no wish to appear weak, yet also did not wish humanity to appear divided. As such, Dennison was heavily involved in the political oversight of the Second Verge War via the secret military committees, something that would greatly aid her cooperation with Alexander deBankole once they became coalition partners in 2182. However, deBankole was to be her great adversary in the months leading up to Torfan.

The Minister for Defence, although disagreeing with the Consuls on the subject, was forced to defend the decision to leave Torfan alone. Parliamentary records indicate that deBankole concentrated on the delicate political situation on the moon, and how any attack there might jeopardise the recolonisation of more friendly batarian populations to Shan'kharit. More secret records show orders from Consul Taro to Minister deBankole to keep any mention of military resources firmly out of the discussion, as the grand plan to strike the killing blow to the Hegemony was then only known by the admirals of the eight fleets and Field Marshal Anna Reynolds-Augusta of Troop Command Columbia.

Dennison did not accept the argument, and by February 2178, had utilised her extensive business contacts to discover certain key facts. The Government was buying up huge volumes of fuel, and moving large numbers of naval munitions. It was not long before Dennison confronted the Government with the knowledge, and the truth was revealed. Though the exact details were still secret, there could be no hiding the build up from someone as well connected as Dennison. The Alliance was preparing a huge offensive, involving the entirety of the Navy and full a third of the Army.

The question of what happened next is one that often troubles historians of the subject. Consul Taro's official reaction was muted, delegating the task of bringing Dennison to heal to her co-consul, Franco Nivash. Privately, the Consul was furious. Leaked cabinet reports of meetings held by the Alliance Defence Council, made up of the consuls and the ministers for Defence, Colonial Affairs and Justice, suggest that assassinating Dennison was seriously considered, along with attempting to destroy her business empire. Such was the seriousness of the threat of the Alliance plan leaking to the greater galaxy. The Alliance would be forced to attack the defences of the Kite's Nest directly, at a huge cost in ships and personnel, or worse, be forced to the negotiation table where the Citadel would make all possible assurances that the blood spilled would not end up benefitting the Alliance. Throughout these discussions, the one voice of reason and probity over panic and fury belonged to Alexander deBankole, who argued that all Dennison wanted was a serious effort to be made against Torfan. Why deBankole did so remains unknown.

The Consuls relented, and agreed to bring Dennison in to provide political oversight on the operation. Failure would have been her fault, not the Government's. Dennison happily agreed anyway, knowing that success would secure her a serious reputation on defence, where before she had relied strongly on her business acumen. The risks were not small, however. The population of Torfan was almost entirely batarian, yet there were deep divisions in the population. The previous Alliance strategy of resettlement would not work, particularly as it was suspected that large parts of the population and their leaders knew about the kidnappings and slavery. Any military occupation would likely create large resentments as well. Torfan was not occupied previously, as it was a non-entity militarily. It became one of three worlds the Alliance allowed batarian loyalists to migrate to. Indeed, the newly independent batarian government of Shan'kharit also deported fifteen thousand of the most zealous Hegemony loyalists to Torfan in 2177, an action that greatly increased the stability of that world, but destabilised Torfan.

Dennison accepted these risks as necessary. To her mind, the destruction of the External Forces responsible for the kidnappings and the rescue of the would-be slaves was a top priority. Aside from her own personal morality, which was no small motivation, she was concerned about the effect that leaving clear enemies of the species alone at such a crucial time in the war. Although the forces available for the operation would be limited, Dennison had no doubts about the victory to come. Yet she could not know the cost of that victory.

* * *

**Kemen Sak'davran**_, Governor of Torfan_

Governor Sakdevran was equally blue-blooded as the politician responsible for the ruling of his world. His family had been noble caste since official records began some six hundred years earlier at the very founding of the Hegemony. Prior to that, his family were instrumental in uniting the early batarian colonies. Having served in the Batarian Army as is expected of batarian men of his caste, he was governor of a province on Khar'shan itself, a position he held for decades until the rise of the then Vice-Hegemon Ar'dra. In 2168, he was transferred to 'make something of the Torfan colony'. Openly, he was moved because he was the only person capable of turning the moon into an economically viable colony. Torfan had erratic weather conditions that made development difficult, conditions that would have ruled it out for colonisation by the Alliance but still well within parameters for the Hegemony.

However, the real reason Sak'davran was moved to Torfan was that he was a dissident. He disagreed strongly and publicly with both the war and the restructuring of the Hegemony's political system. He had even advocated peaceful negotiation to resolve the differences between humanity and the batarian people, prior to the outbreak of the Second Verge War. For any other batarian noble, this would have been tantamount to suicide. Indeed, many uncooperative nobles had been killed in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Council of Greaters, after they raised their objections publicly. There were no shortage of such voices, as the Arch-Hegemon dissolved familial fiefs in favour of appointed governorships controlled by him. Sak'davran escaped the wrath of the new dictator through his impeccable breeding alone. He was regarded by many a Hegemony loyalist as an eccentric rather than a threat, and his execution or disappearance would have clashed too much with tradition for the Arch-Hegemon to survive the backlash.

Sak'davran ruled on Torfan for ten years before the invasion, greatly improving conditions there. He bought a small number of all-weather colonial habitation modules, and reverse engineered them to build more, allowing a great increase in the population. He encouraged niche but specialised industries to set up on the world, often with illegal subsidies, which provided employment beyond the small mining industry. Torfan was on the rise, despite all its problems, not even the Alliance incursion of 2170 slowing it down. It would take the outbreak of total war before its fortunes changed.

The Battle of Elysium cut the colony off from the rest of the Hegemony, and the targeted destruction of FTL comm buoys in the Yuki Cluster ended all communications, but it wasn't until the end of the Battle of Anhur that its fortunes began to slip. The Alliance offered a simple choice. Accept refugees and remain demilitarised, or be invaded and subjugated. Sak'davran was a patriot, and very much inclined to decline the terms, had it not been for the overriding incompetence of the Batarian military. He was forced to accept by necessity. However, he granted the use of his security bunkers and secret hangers to the External Forces whom had stayed behind during the Alliance advance in the Verge. The Governor had no wish to be remembered as a collaborator, and knew that the gesture would keep his reputation secure for the post-war settlement that he was sure would come. His reputation would be further boosted by another factor.

Throughout 2177, refugees and deportees flooded to Torfan, nearly doubling the population. Hegemony loyalists, batarians who simply did not wish to live under human rule, and minor criminal elements from the Terminus, all moved to the moon to escape the Alliance and its laws. To a large extent, leaving Torfan untouched saved many lives elsewhere, providing humanity with a safe release valve for disgruntled batarians in the occupied zones. However, it left Governor Sak'davran in a worsening position. Calls for militarisation and to join the war effort against the humans ranged from the fantastically to the decidedly practical. The latter course was encouraged by the External Forces operatives present on Torfan, and soon, Sak'davran was forced to agree to arming the populace. This would prove fatal for thousands of citizens there. The Governor knew it, yet did not have the courage or muscle to face the demands down.

When the Arch-Hegemon ordered the External Forces to begin kidnapping and enslaving as many humans and collaborators as they could, the Governor received high handed orders to facilitate the operation. We do not know if he would have baulked at these orders, as the External Forces sent their best company of soldiers to Torfan days later, to secure warehouses and bunkers for the use of the slaver groups. However, Sak'davran made no known attempt to contact Alliance command or warn Alliance colonies of the danger. He was to remain loyal to his state, a living embodiment of the mantra "For my country, right or wrong."


	31. TORFAN: Strategy

STRATEGY FOR OFFENCE

Alice Dennison's overall grand strategy for Torfan mimicked that of deBankole's own on Anhur to a large extent, as implemented by Field Marshal DeRuyter. The colony had become a slavehold, much as Anhur itself had. Its military forces, whether those were militia, paramilitaries or mercenaries, were to be destroyed in detail. No one in the Alliance was aware of the presence of the elite External Forces on -site, so it was assumed that this would be a relatively cost-free exercise. The chance of encountering guerillas was a different story, at least at first. These were to be met with the same tactics used on Anhur. Trouble neighbourhoods were to be surrounded and systematically levelled if weapons were not surrendered, but the chance to surrender was to be given. In the event, it would not be, not least because of the discoveries that Shepard was to make during the course of the battle.

The plan varied from that of deBankole's in one crucial way. Once the colony was subdued, it was to be placed under direct military rule. Deportation to the other two 'valve' worlds used to dump batarian dissidents and loyalists was considered too dangerous, as was deportation to the deep Terminus, as the balance of power there was still tenuous and could not be allowed to tip against humanity's interests. This meant that Torfan was to become the only batarian world under permanent and direct Alliance control. Those captured in the Terminus were generally ruled either by the independent batarian exiles from Shan'kharit, or via the use of proxy warlords. Not Torfan. Torfan was to become a political statement. Any world involved in the kidnap and enslavement of humans would be conquered and subjugated. Harsh measures were to be taken against any rejection of this point, although Dennison could not know what the consequences of her action would be.

Planning of the actual military attack was undertaken by Colonel-General Oleg Petrovsky, commander of the Thirteenth Legion and a man that no one doubted could stomach the job of maintaining order on Torfan in the aftermath. The Army was given the job of executing the attack proper. For the task, a strategic bomber squadron and an elite special forces unit would be required. Both of which were not in great supply for the projected date of the attack, due to commitments towards the Kite's Nest. Petrovsky and Dennison managed to convince the Second Legion to give up its premier squadron for the invasion's prelude, but makeshift measures would have to be taken for provision of the initial ground assault. A newly formed unit would be combined with a Navy N7 team to reconnoitre the most likely beachhead.

The attack itself would commence with a stealthy insertion of the special forces to insure the landing zone was not mined or covered by anti-aircraft GARDIAN batteries. At the time, the most stealthy craft of an appropriate size available to any species was the strategic bomber, and only the humans and salarians possessed them. Both the troops and surveillance satellites required for a safe landing of the regular combat forces were to be delivered by bombers, as well as providing air support. The recon troops would be deposited on the moon's surface by sub-orbital assault pod, would carry out their initial mission and proceed to disrupt local militia forces in the refugee town of Haven. Once this was under way, Navy planetary assault cruisers of the First Fleet would arrive to begin the titan drop of the orbital assault divisions of two Army task forces.

Once the Army was down, the divisions would spread out and move by ground, supported from space. Resistance was expected to be light, as professional military forces were estimated at near zero. The DID had intelligence that there were a small number of External Forces present, but these were no more than brigade strength. In truth, they were even less numerous than that. Occupation of the major settlements would be followed up by drone sweeps of the countryside, possibly for as long as a year, while martial law was imposed and facilities set up for a more permanent governmental regime.

* * *

STRATEGY FOR DEFENCE

The Governor's strategy for defending his planet against the Alliance was to appear as non-threatening and irrelevant as possible in military terms, while maintaining a strong economic focus that would place serious doubts over any involvement in Hegemony war efforts. This was of course a cover for his allowing the External Forces a free hand to operate secretly from Torfan. In truth, his rule was under just as much threat from his own species as it was from humanity, perhaps even more so. There is significant debate in batarian circles as to whether or not he was playing both sides or whether he was a stalwart loyalist, using cunning and guile to trick the humans. The majority tend towards the latter view, given the events in question and the Hegemony's own acknowledgement of his contribution to the war. However, Torfan's resources were most often bought by human corporations involved in the war effort, making the moon a small cog in the Alliance war-machine as well.

In the event of invasion, Sak'devran intended to fight. He was far too proud and far too highly ranked to do anything else. His honour would have been tarnished otherwise. The mode in which he intended to do this is perhaps the largest reason behind why Jane Shepard would not face criminal charges in the aftermath of the invasion. Rather than face the Allinace head-on, as Anhur had done and the Hegemony had attempted to do, he would fight an assymmetric war against the occupiers. To accomplish this, all civil servants were instructed to destroy tax and military records at the first sign of an invasion. This would render the militia entirely non-existent in records, allowing them much greater freedom of action and forcing the Alliance to find possible resisters themselves.

Once the occupation was as messy as possible, the Governor would appeal to the Citadel Council to intervene and dispatch a peacekeeping force. There was a high likelihood of this succeeding, given that the invasion would be seen as an overreaction by all three of the Council species. It was only circumstance that prevented this strategy from working. To the Alliance, such tactics were terrorism, and would be treated as such. The resistance would be put down far more quickly than expected, with brutality that even made turians shrink from approval. Furthermore, events soon escalated in the aftermath of Torfan, placing it low on the priority list for the Council and eventually making intervention impossible.


	32. TORFAN: The Commanders

THE COMMANDERS

**Major Jonathan Kyle**, _Commanding Officer, Army Biotic Assault Corps_

Jonathan Kyle was a career Army officer whom had served as early as the First Contact War. He was considered one of the great innovative thinkers in the ranks of the Alliance military, particularly when it came to special forces tactics. He had served loyally for many years, most notably during brief but brutal Alliance counterattack in the First Verge War. In the inter-war years, he was promoted to the First Legion's planning staff, under the Army Director of Intelligence, Major-General Heinz. His behind-the-lines proposals had been key to the seizure of human-populated independent colonies during Operation Okami in 2176. Consul Taro and Minister deBankole both considered him to be one of the finest officers in the Alliance.

In 2177, after ferocious engagements with asari commando units under batarian employ in the Terminus, Kyle proposed a new unit be formed along similar lines. It was to be an all-biotic corps of special operators from the Army's existing B programme. At the time, biotics were parcelled out to individual units a dozen at a time, and assigned according to the wishes of the unit commanders. Very few chose to group any of the biotics together, and none formed coherent biotic units. Most commanders viewed biotics as largely a niche ability, inferior to heavy and mobile firepower, unreliable for use by anyone except the asari. This was perhaps indicative of the discrimination faced by biotics more generally during that era of human development, an era now thankfully ended due to the contribution of such individuals during the Reaper War. In part to suppress any notion that the military discriminated against biotics, the High Command signed off on the proposal in September 2177.

New graduates of the B programme from B5 to B7 were eager to join Major Kyle's unit, and this coincided with a large number of the second wave of biotics born between 2157 and 2159 coming of age. Soon, what was originally meant only as a section-sized unit was almost the size of a company, although only a platoon would see action on Torfan. Kyle himself became a strong advocate for the biotic cause, after witnessing the feats they were capable of on the battlefield. Despite this, the unit saw very little action. This was mostly down to the wrapping up of the 'March Around The Core' in early '78. Almost every world that could be attacked had been already. There was simply no role left for conventional ground forces until the Kite's Nest Offensive began. Doubts about the utility of the unit had begun almost immediately.

Major Kyle fought tooth and nail to keep the unit alive, and the hearing to make the final decision on it was coincidentally on the same day as the secret Senate hearing on the kidnappings across the Verge. Kyle appealed directly to both Consuls and to Alice Dennison while waiting in the wings. Dennison in particular remembered. When planning the attack on Torfan, the list of available units was scant, and Petrovsky's doubts about the Army Biotic Assault Corps were softened by the politician's support for them. More than likely, he regarded that any blame for failure on their part could be deflected onto Dennison. Kyle had his chance to prove the viability of biotic combat in human service, and he had everything to lose should he fail. His troops were well aware of the stakes as well, not only for their own futures but for those of the poor souls being processed for sale like cattle.

**Lieutenant-Commander Jane Shepard**_, ___Naval Ordnance Coordinator -_ N7, Verdun Squad, Fifth Fleet_

If any one person in human history was born to military service, it was Jane Shepard. Born in 2154, she was delivered in the medical bay of Alliance Frigate Command Lorient, in the European Union. Her mother was Flight-Lieutenant Hannah Shepard, a name famous in its own right, and her father was a Deck Chief John Beaumont. Both mother and father came from military families, in her father's case the line of service stretched on and off back as far as the French and Indian War. Although born on Earth, she was raised on Arcturus Station until she was eight, and joined her mother on-board ship commands in the aftermath of the First Contact War. She was given extensive genetic therapy prior to the Genetic Preservation Act of 2162, which closed loopholes allowing for non-cosmetic therapies on children. At sixteen, she became an Alliance naval cadet, joining the Advanced Placement Programme for children of servicepeople in the aftermath of Mindoir. She studied Combat Technologies at the Naval Academy, before signing on as an officer candidate for the N Programme.

Shepard's early military records were mixed. She excelled in combat, physical and electronics exercises. However, she was consistently insubordinate, preferring her own plans to orders given by superior officers. During her N Programme training exercises, she managed to subdue a whole opposing squad with only one other N candidate as opposed to the usual two, using the third member of her team as bait. This was contrary to her orders, and she was informed to fall into line or fall out of the military. She chose the former, and slowly lost her more openly impetuous streak while keeping her apparent ruthlessness. Her instructors began to trust her instincts more as she progressed rapidly from N5 to N7. Her talents with a sniper rifle, and for concealment with and without cloaking technology, were carefully honed.

In late 2175, she was promoted from Sub-Lieutenant to Lieutenant for her assignment to the Fifth Fleet. She joined a full squad of N7 marines in the sub-orbital drop, ground assault role. Her first combat mission was during the Battle for Elysium. She was dropped as a force of eighty N7s onto the grounds of St. Eugene's Cathedral to resolve the hostage situation the batarians had created there. Although it was a brief firefight, Shepard distinguished herself by eliminating the batarian commander with a shot through the stained-glass windows. This caused enough confusion and shock for the entire enemy force to be taken without the loss of a single hostage, the conscripts only held together as a fighting force by their loyalty to caste.

As a result of her success on Elysium, Shepard was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander and reassigned to reconnaissance as a Naval Ordnance Coordinator. The Fifth Fleet was reassigned to help Troop Command Columbia in the Yuki Cluster, and Shepard went with it, aiding the capture of that region of space until the end of 2177. After that came some months of waiting, during which she was formally cautioned for involvement in a bar fight on Terra Nova. Many units were placed on leave at this time, as the Alliance plan for the attack on the Kite's Nest was not yet ready to be implemented.

When the question of Torfan arose, there was some examination of whether or not a naval strike against likely batarian bunkers on the moon would work. The Navy's staff found that the planet's delicate ecosystem would be too badly damaged by a strike powerful enough to penetrate the rock and metal formations protecting the bunkers. As it was the Army's game, they decided to assign an N7 team for coordinating air support, so that some Navy presence could be pointed to in case of success.

As a result of her service on Elysium, as well as her impatience for combat, Shepard was assigned to join the Army Biotic Assault Corps troops along with two N5s as her escorts. It was perhaps the most fateful decision in the history of the Alliance. Her role was planned to be small, almost insignificant. Fate it seems had other plans. Shepard's natural aggression, sublime combat skills and utter stubbornness in the face of what must have seemed like certain defeat were to become infamous. These traits, although essential in any war, would prove utterly invaluable to the prosecution of the Reaper War.

* * *

**Captain Sasko Char**,_ Batarian External Forces Commander Torfan._

Records of Sasko Char's military career are non-existent thanks to the Great Upheaval and the Reaper War. Much of the information available about him comes from references in documents not directly related to his activities, and testimony from batarian rebels in the post-Reaper era. More is known about his life before service. He was born into the very highest of warrior caste families, and as is expected of sons of the Char dynasty, was trained for physicality and cunning as soon as he could walk. His family was not among the conspirators that brought down the old regime, but fell into line behind Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra in short order, not having the resources to resist nor seeing any reason for doing so. Ar'dra, for his part, rewarded the family for their practicality with governorships in core batarian space, and Sasko Char with a place in the External Forces.

The Captain trained under General Gadnalak's supervision, was selected for initiation into the Special Intervention Unit, and survived the utterly brutal regimen of live fire combat exercises and drug-enhancements required for service in that section of the External Forces. He served with the SIU during the First Verge War and the cold conflict in the inter-war period, being present on Mindoir until leaving on the last shuttle with Balak and Gadnalak. This experience would see him appointed to lead a new unit for the beginning of the Second Verge War; the Firstborn. This unit was deployed within human space in secret, to begin a campaign of disruption and terrorism throughout the rear of Alliance forces. Elysium stopped these orders from being pressed however, and Sasko Char was ordered to Torfan to coordinate mercenary activity from there.

Anhur and the Alliance victories of 2177 stripped that role of any meaningful point, and when the order came to begin kidnappings, the Captain was only too happy to facilitate. Furthermore, with the flood of refugees and batarian loyalists onto Torfan, he was given the manpower to create an effective fighting force, with which he intended to begin hit and run attacks in support of his Arch-Hegemon's objective to bring the Citadel into the conflict. This idea would be annihilated by Shepard's arrival, as would Sasko Char himself.


	33. TORFAN: The Opposing Forces

THE OPPOSING FORCES

_THE SYSTEMS ALLIANCE_

**_Torfan Expeditionary Forces – Platoon A, Army Biotic Assault Corps_**

The Army Biotic Assault Corps was made up of the most powerful biotics of those freshly recruited into the Alliance Army at the start of the Second Verge War. Recruits were put through the usual rigours of the special forces programme for biotic soldiers, selected for the level of their powers, and received additional training for all-biotic units based on intelligence gathered about asari commandos. They were issued with new and experimental equipment, including L4 amplifiers and incendiary ammunition modifications, much of which remained unavailable to other units. Authorisations for spending on the unit were highly political in nature, token measures designed to show the Alliance Parliament's good faith towards biotics in the military and society more generally. There was significant support among politicians for the unit. There was far less so among the military leadership.

The concept was a potentially very effective one. Asari commandos, salarian operatives, turian cabals, and krogan battlemasters, all had fearsome reputations. All were utterly lethal in numbers to any force not possessing heavy armour or precision anti-materiel small arms. Aspects of the combat doctrines of all of these groups were adopted. While this granted a large amount of tactical flexibility to the corps, it also reflected humanity's newcomer status in biotic techniques. It was unrealistic to expect human biotics to combine the sheer power of asari, the front assault capability of krogan, the complete discipline of turians, AND the cunning of salarians. This would be the downfall of many a good soldier on Torfan. Exacerbating this problem was the overall commander, Major Kyle. While an avowed enthusiast for the use of biotics in combat, he was not himself a biotic. This has led some to declare his orders on Torfan to be utterly naïve, borne of a romantic or patriotic ideal about the capabilities of his subordinates without any knowledge of the reality behind the unit.

There was one more factor that led to events on the moon. Platoon A would be the part of the corps deployed to Torfan. Its membership was chosen for their biotic strength, rather than being chosen by experience and 'reinforced' with new recruits. This resulted in a very low age profile and almost no combat veterans being included, as younger biotics were often more powerful thanks to a better understanding of their biology than their predecessors had had to deal with. This inexperience, coupled with the absolute confidence in their commanding officer and the weight of the task in front of them, almost certainly contributed to the impetuousness and disregard for life with which they would fight.

**_Torfan Expeditionary Forces – Verdun Squad, N7 Naval Ordnance Coordination_**

As the Army Biotic Assault Corps did not possess orbital and suborbital artillery coordination capabilities at the time of Torfan, as well as the political reasons already explained, an N7 team was assigned to join them for the attack. Such teams were commonplace, as naval artillery support was often crucial for army operations. They were also regarded as the elite of the elite of N7 units, operating in 'danger-close' settings and ranging behind enemy lines for extended periods of time. Only frigate N7 teams had a reputation to match them.

Verdun was the codename issued to Shepard upon her promotion to Lieutenant-Commander and leadership of a Navy special forces unit. Aside from Shepard herself, there were two N5s assigned to the fireteam to provide protection or eyes-on reconnaissance. These were Lieutenant Daniel Lutevenko and Corporal Sebastian Farragat. Torfan was to be their first assignment with Shepard, and they only met her on the voyage to its cluster. This was unusual, but her usual team had been put in for elevation to N6 and were in the midst of intense training at the time of the assault. Historians have debated whether or not this unfamiliarity allowed the Lieutenant-Commander to disregard the loss of their lives to continue fighting, against all odds. Certainly, Shepard is not known to have mentioned them publicly in the years following. Others have speculated that the nature of their deaths precludes any such notion, that their deaths created the mindset that won her the battle.

**_Torfan Expeditionary Forces – No. 617 Bomber Squadron, Legio II Britannia_**

For the insertion of the Army and Navy ground elements, as well as for immediate orbital support for the initial phase of the attack, Kyle had the disposal of the nineteen bombers of the specialist 617 Squadron, Second Legion. Three of these would carry the fifty-five personnel to be dropped by assault pod, while the rest would carry guided bombs for use against GARDIAN batteries and unexpected enemy resistance. As Torfan had no orbital anti-orbital weapons or monitor ships, they could expect to range freely.

**_Torfan Expeditionary Forces – Task Forces Ulster and Småland, Legio XIII Borealis_**

Once the initial phase of operations had concluded, and the defences preventing a serious landing were defeated, General Petrovsky would land 200,000 troops over the course of a week to seize and pacify the colony in its entirety. Two task forces from Ireland and Sweden were selected, largely for their previous experience clearing out cities on Anhur, named Ulster and Småland respectively. Their orbital assault divisions would land by titan, delivered by the Alliance First Fleet, followed up by the rest of the divisions once landing zones and spaceports were secure from attack.

* * *

_THE BATARIAN HEGEMONY_

**_The Firstborn – Batarian External Forces, Torfan Garrison_**

When the path to war had been decided upon, the Batarian Hegemony's top three leaders; Ar'dra, Gadnalak and Elanos Haliat, were in agreement that a specialised unit had to be created for the task of disrupting enemy operations and terrorising their population. This was not viewed as merely a preference, but an absolute necessity; a vanguard of the mighty invasions to come, a reminder that the Hegemony could touch any colony even before the bulk of its forces arrived. This was an idea ripped straight from the successes of Mindoir and before, when batarian raids ranged at will through Alliance space when required.

Nothing but the very best would do. Gadnalak insisted upon the most modern equipment, ranging from Carnifex pistols, through Avenger rifles and Kishock Harpoon Guns, all the way to the most modern missile-armed version of the Verush Heavy Tank. This meant that the Firstborn were more than able to compete with the most well-equipped Alliance force in equal numbers, as well as overcome any planetary defence forces even in greater numbers. Haliat's contribution was the supply of several dozen turian-registered freighter ships to allow the force free movement throughout Citadel and human space. The full roster of these secret transports would not be discovered until during the battle itself.

Most fateful however was the decision of the Arch-Hegemon about where the manpower for the unit should be sourced. In order to slake the nobility's thirst for glory, as well as to keep them invested in the campaign to come, Ar'dra ordered that the entire force should be made up of the newly come-of-age firstborn sons of the noble castes, and not just those of the warrior caste. This limited the size of the force to that of a company, but would also give the unit an élan and self-confidence that even other parts of the External Forces would lack by 2178.

At the outbreak of the Second Verge War, the Firstborn were in their staging positions, ready to take the fight to a weakened enemy. Elysium changed everything. Without the naval superiority gained by holding Elysium, the batarians were unable to challenge the Alliance Navy. This left any open attack against Alliance colonies a suicidal prospect. Humiliatingly, the Firstborn were reduced to the role of glorified delivery boys during the first few months of the war, bringing the slavers on Anhur the heavy weapons and volunteers promised by the Hegemony, using the transports that they had originally intended to ride to glory. Once the invasion of that world by the Alliance commenced, they were relegated again to an intelligence gathering role, which they carried out successfully until the destruction of the last FTL comm buoy links to Hegemony space in the Yuki Cluster. They aided in the training of Terminus forces to resist Alliance occupations, but largely failed in this, their contribution too small to overcome the sheer weight of force brought to bear by Field Marshal DeRuyter and Admiral Hunt.

When the secret orders to commence kidnappings arrived, the Firstborn organised and carried out the raids themselves, having large amounts of information about where and how to hit the most promising targets courtesy of their time spent collecting intelligence. It is unlikely that any other batarian force could have successfully mounted the raids with the complete lack of casualties, save perhaps for the SIU, which was too heavily tied up in the Terminus to be of any use regardless. However, with the Theshaca Raids, the noose began to tighten and the Firstborn knew it. They retreated to Torfan and its command bunker complex, scattering the remaining transports in spaceports throughout Citadel space. With little other options, they prepared their next gambit; suicide bombings, using the fanatics and desperate souls deposited on Torfan by the Alliance itself. They would not get the chance.

* * *

**_Torfan Hegemonic Militia_**

Governor Sak'devran was forced to arm the population of Torfan by a mixture of threats from the Firstborn and public pressure to do something about the horrendous losses suffered by the Hegemony. In truth, even if he could have successfully avoided assassination after rejecting such calls, it would not have made a difference. Arms smugglers, with an eye on the profits, had long spotted the demand for weapons from the batarians there. Aided by local criminal elements, these unscrupulous entrepreneurs quickly exploited the niche, and soon the marketplaces were filled with cheap weapons. By the time of the Alliance attack, almost every adult male batarian had a small collection of mass-accelerators of varying quality and capability, and a great number of adult females did too. Along with the discoveries made by Shepard, this is perhaps the greatest reason for the utter brutality that would be witnessed during the fighting.

The result of this phenomenon was that the Alliance taskforces moving to take Torfan would actually be outnumbered, the first time such an eventuality had come to pass during the war since Elysium. However, the militia lacked kinetic barriers, heavy armour, and most importantly, coordination.

The Governor was determined to keep control of the situation, both generally and from the grasp of the External Forces, who would use the citizenry as cannon fodder if they could. He decreed that all those in possession of armaments were conscripted under his command, and set about laying down orders for a highly defensive posture. The militia were to defend their neighbourhoods, no more and no less. This suited the citizens themselves just fine, at least for the moment, and it had the convenient benefit of not provoking the Alliance openly. Of course, when the fighting did start, the opposite effect would occur.


	34. TORFAN: The Weapons

THE WEAPONS

_THE SYSTEMS ALLIANCE_

The majority of the Alliance ground forces to be deployed would use equipment that had been battle tested repeatedly during the two years previous. The Riesig assault walker, the Orca MBT, the Groundhog II APC, the Mark-IV Orbital Assault Titan, the Mantis gunship. These would perform to expectations during the hard fighting of the occupation phase of the invasion.

For the initial phase, the ground teams would largely use standard equipment, such as the ubiquitous Avenger assault rifle, omniblades and omnibayonets, and the new Phalanx pistol. The N7 team would also take the standard ground-to-space ordnance coordination omnitools with them. However, given the needs of the mission, a number of specialised weapons would be used to assure its absolute success.

**_A-62 Strategic Bomber_**

The Alliance's primary relay-jump capable strategic bomber, the A-62 was introduced in 2162 as the first dedicated means of delivering humanity's WMD arsenal against the Turian Hierarchy during the tense years after the First Contact War. Until the development of the deterrence frigate and the relay-jump capable ballistic missile, it was the early deterrence against conquest by the batarians as well. It can be said that the A-62 saved humanity by merely existing in that dangerous early decade when she first explored the galaxy. By 2170 however, humanity's conventional and WMD forces had been upgraded to the point where the bomber was used more for stealthy orbit-to-ground artillery support, rather than the task of threatening to destroy worlds. It was in this role that it continued to excel, so much so that Alliance carriers from the mid-2160s on were designed to support a number of such craft.

The A-62 is about fifty metres in length, with a wingspan of about thirty metres, but otherwise resembles a downsized classic Alliance frigate with a rounded nose. The wings are not for aerodynamic purposes, but for weapon storage, and operate on a swing-wing system that retracts them over the fuselage for sub-orbital and atmospheric entries. It has four articulated-thrust engines at the rear and bow, an FTL drive core, advanced sensor packages, and a crew of four. It can carry up to 60 metric tons of weapons, ordnance, equipment and/or troops in a great variety of configurations. The aircraft itself has a very small thermal profile, making it ideal for stealth missions.

For the attack on Torfan, nineteen A-62s of No.617 Squadron would be deployed. Three would be configured for insertion of ground personnel by assault pod. The sixteen others would carry guided sub-orbital bombs, virtually undetectable at the time to sensors and extremely difficult to deflect even with the most advanced active defences of today. Large scale kinetic barriers are the only real defence against such devices.

The A-62 continues to serve with both the Alliance Army and Navy, its low cost stealth capabilities continuing to prove extremely useful in the chaos of the post-Reaper era.

**_Rorsch Anti-Materiel Rifle_**

One of the two primary anti-armour weapons carried by Alliance infantry, the Rorsch AMR, or RAM rifle, is the latest in a long line of railgun-type weapons first developed in the mid-21st century. Originally an electrically assisted, caseless sabot railcannon, the discovery of the mass effect turned the device into a weapon that could defeat almost any armour in a single shot, as long as the target was unprotected by kinetic barriers. With the development of disruptor ammunition, even barriers struggle to fully protect targets, particularly at short ranges. Torfan was to be the first battle which saw such a modification deployed in the field.

The weapon is not without its disadvantages. It is heavy, weighing in at ten kilos. It also a long weapon at 125 centimetres, a requirement to achieve the muzzle velocities that can penetrate most feasible amounts of armour at range. It is single shot only, the recoil system needing all available space within the weapon so as not to break the weapon and hurt the user. Its ammunition is non-standard, consisting of the round itself contained within a specialised heatsink. Despite these disadvantages, the need for an extremely powerful, long range anti-armour weapon remains a pressing concern for many armies. Alongside the Alliance, the asari commandos adopted it prior to the Eden Prime War. After the Collector Crisis, select turian units were also equipped with it, and salarian STG groups placed it under trial, ultimately finding it too heavy and large for their operatives to use it as a single-soldier weapon.

As a weapon against heavy infantry, even the most heavily armoured krogan was a sitting duck. Against the like of the Verush Heavy or the Jiris IFV, it was capable of penetrating armour and barriers, although it required several shots or a lucky strike to render them combat ineffective. Targeting crew compartments was a particularly favoured tactic of both Alliance snipers and asari commandos, usually starting with the gunner, followed by the driver and commander. This led to some vehicles being equipped with redundant barrier systems and ablatives around these areas, not greatly affecting the ability of the rifle to strike but moving the goalposts far enough for them not to be completely vulnerable.

Shepard would carry one of these terrible weapons onto Torfan, and would use it to spectacular effect. The weapon in question was sighted with a multispectrum scope, with a variable 14x-20x zoom, a side ironsight for emergency use, and a bipod with aim stabilisation buffers.

**_M-97 Viper_**

A semi-automatic marksman rifle developed by Rosenkov Materials, the Viper is the marksman's answer to the new era of kinetic barriers that began in the early 2170s. Essentially an upgrade of the existing Mantis rifle from Devlon Industries, the weapon was not issued widely in the Alliance military until the 2180s, when it became evident that the Mantis was entirely incapable of defeating both armour and barriers in an anti-personnel role with a single shot. The exception to this delay was the N7 Marine Corps, the command of which had a discretionary weapons budget that allowed them to cherry-pick the very best weapons, albeit in small numbers and according to what was available.

The Viper is cheap and highly effective, and the weapon saw service in almost every military, paramilitary and mercenary group in the galaxy, in a manner akin to that of the Avenger assault rifle. The Firstborn themselves would deploy a pair of marksmen with the weapon, but the rest of that unit's soldiers were not cross-trained in their use. This unassuming weapon would be responsible for the most kills during the initial phase on Torfan in the hands of Shepard.

**_Type 73 Tactical Cloak_**

A new innovation in galactic warfare, the tactical cloak saw some limited use in the 2139-45 Cold War, before falling out of favour with human forces due to the expanded use of thermal sensors. After Mindoir however, the Alliance DID's Special Weapons Division determined to upgrade the system and overcome its deficiencies. They succeeded, creating the Type 73 by combining and upgrading the old optical camouflage system of the Cold War era IT-33 with a new heatsink capability, creating something that could hide a soldier from both the naked eye and thermal sweeps. The downside was a shorter operation time than the older device, but the equipment could be used quickly and repeatedly. Heat from the sink was transmitted to the ground via the boot soles of the user or via radiators on the back of their armour, depending on the environmental conditions. Lastly, the new device did not emit the slight buzzing sound of the older device, allowing for close-in stealth actions.

The equipment was very expensive, and was required to be integrated into the armour of anyone who intended to use it, and so it was issued only to the very best marksmen in the Alliance Army and Navy. The First Legion and N7 Marines were the only combat formations to receive the device by 2178.

**_IL-29 Motion Mine_**

Developed in 2129 by the Pan-Asian Coalition on Earth, the IL-29 is a spherical anti-tank mine capable of laying in wait for targets and moving into their path based on a variety of sensory input. It was manufactured by the hundreds of thousands during the Cold War, and was adopted by all major Earth military powers in some form or another, most often through unauthorised copycat programmes.

With the discovery of the mass effect, the weapon was upgraded to allow it to 'bounce' or jump, greatly increasing its effectiveness against anti-grav vehicles as well as nearby supporting infantry. Its explosives coupled with an 'EMP' effect allows it to defeat many forms of defences. The mine's primary purpose is to disable a vehicle rather than destroying it outright, but when used in clusters, the weapon is more than capable of doing so. About half to two-thirds the size of a soccer ball, six of the weapons would be carried onto Torfan, each of Shepard's N7 team having two.

* * *

_THE BATARIAN HEGEMONY_

The Firstborn were equipped with Avenger assault rifles, kinetic barriers, a small number of marksman rifles such as the Viper, and batarian fragmentation grenades. For armoured support, they were provided with five Verush Heavies of the missile variation, a measure largely taken out of fear of enemy Orca MBTs and Riesig walkers. These were to be delivered by heavy lift shuttle for raiding operations, but the shuttles in question were destroyed during the Theshaca Raids, leaving them stranded on Torfan. None of the Firstborn were biotics; children displaying such talents were always snapped up early and deployed in the specialised squads attached to the regular corps of the External Forces.

The Torfan Hegemonic Militia were equipped with whatever could be found on the black market, and they were largely self-supplied in that regard. Thousands of early-pattern Avengers and even converted First Contact War era Lancers were most common, meaning that many weapons the militia would use hand been in the hands of Alliance soldiers a decade or so earlier. More modern models like the Vindicator were also represented in smaller numbers, mostly among exiled merchant caste batarians. Most fatefully however, the militia also got their hands on cheap but plentiful heavy weapons.

**_M-76 Revenant Light Machine Gun_**

An almost brand-new weapon to the battlefields of 2178, the Revenant Light Machine Gun was the first real attempt by galactic arms manufacturers to overcome the rising prevalence of kinetic barrier technology in a man-portable package. As such, it was protected by heavy anti-copying software to safeguard Kassa Fabrication's investment in its design. Kassa, a human corporation operating out of Illium and Noveria, was keen to corner the market before similar weapons could be brought to sale, and would largely succeed until the introduction of high capacity, fast firing SMGs like the Tempest in the 2180s.

The weapon was not generally adopted by Citadel militaries due to its expense, but found plentiful buyers nonetheless. C-Sec would buy a number for their emergency intervention units and for precinct security. Terminus mercenary companies and krogan clans bought the most, the latter able to use the large weapon as a standard assault rifle. The batarians acquired a number through their Terminus allies, almost all of them going to the External Forces troops left behind after Elysium. The most intriguing user of the weapon was perhaps the geth, whom appear to have cracked its anti-copy programming, issuing it to their 'prime' units in large numbers alongside the heavier, slower firing plasma cannon designs they favour.

The Revenant itself is heavy and large, at seven kilos dry and 110 centimetres long, but its firepower more than makes up for those deficiencies. It possesses a variable fire rate, a minimum of 700 rpm for standard targets at range up to a maximum 1000 rpm for use against krogan and biotics. It uses standard heatsinks, and is capable of firing eighty shots before requiring a reload, a significant improvement over many standard assault rifle designs. With modifications, the magazine capacity can double, turning the whole setup into a medium machinegun, and such modifications were commonplace. Its factory output is less accurate than an Avenger due to recoil and its less delicate inner workings, but most of the weapons are equipped with aiming VIs that compensate for its large amounts of recoil.

One in three of the Firstborn was issued with a Revenant. The unit had absolute confidence in the weapon, and it was deemed a vital tool for a formation that knew it would often be outnumbered in battle. It would prove itself utterly lethal on Torfan, but its weaknesses as a pseudo-assault rifle in the hands of non-krogan would also be exposed.

**_M-451 Firestorm flamethrower_**

A weapon banned in Citadel space for 'exposing combatants to unnecessary pain before lethality', the Firestorm was and is extremely popular throughout the Terminus systems. Its utility in urban and jungle settings is highly prized, as is its ability to suppress the healing capabilities of krogan and vorcha, both of which are numerous in Terminus space. It is an old design, and has been copied so many times that the matter of who designed it first is disputed.

Requiring no large exposed fuel tanks, the Firestorm was the first flamethrower design that made the use of such a weapon viable and safe. It is capable of throwing flames to a maximum range of forty metres, though its optimum firing range is half of that. The fuel itself is a compressed mixture, often varying from supplier to supplier, which is lit by a guide-light on the front of the weapon as it exits the barrel. Most mixtures included some proportion of triethylaluminum, a substance that burns white-hot, making the weapon viable against heavier-armoured infantry and lighter vehicles.

No small number of Firestorms found their way into the hands of the Torfan militia, as they were almost as cheap as an Avenger to buy or manufacture, and their ammunition was even easier to come by than heatsinks. The primary planned function of the weapon was not to kill Alliance soldiers, but to lay down thermal screens in order to confuse sensors both in orbit and on the ground, a tactic that had shown much success on Elysium, Anhur and elsewhere. However, the use of the weapon in any role only increased the brutality perceived as necessary both by General Petrovsky and the ordinary Alliance trooper. The Firstborn would deploy no Firestorms, as they found the weapon dishonourable due to its wide use by those with low caste or casteless status.

**_ML-77 missile launcher_**

A semi-automatic missile launcher, the ML-77 was the poor man's anti-armour weapon of choice. Developed by and for the Blue Suns mercenary group, the designers soon left that company and founded their own arms manufactory, ML Concern, to sell the weapon for their own profit. Although protected by similar fabrication rights technology as the Revenant, the producers of the ML-77 aimed for maximum market share through volume rather than quality, and the weapon was sold cheaply to every single military power in the Terminus either directly or indirectly. Furthermore, ML Concern took a page out of the same book as the Avenger, and released ammunition fabrication plans for free, greatly increasing the number of clients who could buy the weapon.

The ML-77 as a weapon was highly versatile due to its design. Stacking numerous missiles into a tube one behind the other allowed for rapid fire, a feature that completely outclassed previous designs, including the human-made RPG-166 and the turian Tankfist. Furthermore, the missiles were capable of homing on heat signatures at a surprisingly long range, though the exact range varied according to model. This meant that the launcher could be used effectively, albeit not with complete effectiveness, in anti-vehicle, counter-sniping, anti-fortification, and low altitude anti-aircraft roles. The weapon was not without its faults. The heat sensors could be easily confused, and care had to be taken with regard to friendly fire as a result. Modern active defence systems, particularly the advanced vehicle systems deployed by the Alliance, were capable of swatting the missiles out of the air with a 95% degree of success, even at close range. They also had no ammunition modifications that allowed them to defeat kinetic barriers with anything other than the force of their impact and explosives. However, against heavy infantry and light vehicles, the intended targets that its designers had in mind from the beginning, it was more than capable of turning the tide of a firefight.

Other than the Blue Suns, whom were able to buy it at-cost due to their close ties with the designers, the weapon would find its way into the hands of the Eclipse, the Blood Pack, CAT6, the Grim Angels, the Talons, Aria T'loak's Omega group, the Quarian Migrant Fleet, the Geth Collective, and Alliance Planetary Defence Forces. Batarian forces had a small number of examples, preferring to rely on their own heavy armour, but the External Forces in the Terminus were forced by necessity to arm themselves with the ML-77 by 2178. Large numbers of the weapon found their way into the hands of the Torfan militia, for much the same reason they had large numbers of Firestorm flamethrowers; they were economical.


	35. TORFAN: The Battle

THE EVE OF BATTLE

June 1st was the proposed start date for the beginning of the attack, but this was pushed back. Naval resources dedicated to delivering the Army taskforces were required at the border of the Terminus, due to manoeuvres of the former Anhur Protection Fleet there under the command of its new owner, Aria T'loak. The asari 'ruler' of Omega had yet to decide whether or not the Systems Alliance was a threat to her interests, and being asari, the timeframe she had in mind for evaluating this stretched into the very long term from a human perspective. Furthermore, the last delivery of resources from Torfan to Alliance corporations had been delayed due to weather, and Dennison, having the final say on the attack, did not wish to interrupt war production any more than she needed to.

This pause allowed for some fresh covert reconnaissance to be undertaken. The Nile-class cargo vessel _Thames_, owned by Dennison's own shipping corporation, was outfitted with military-grade sensory suites and dispatched to pick up the load of high purity heavy metals on Torfan, along with a trio of naval analysts on board. The ship began scanning at a most fateful moment; heat blooms from the GARDIAN batteries nearby the main defence bunker were clearly visible, identifying what was thought to be the main anti-aircraft defences for that facility. Reliability testing on the weapons had been conducted mere minutes before the arrival of the ship. It is perhaps a testament to the disjointed nature of the batarian administration on the moon that no one thought that such tests should be conducted when no foreign vessels were in orbit. The External Forces, operating in secret, were not in control of the AA batteries. The Torfan Hegemonic Militia, not expecting to be attacked and being far less mindful of such things, had no fears their world was being surveyed.

Regardless, the Alliance now thought it had the exact locations of the main batteries covering the planetary capital, arranged among warehouses on the outskirts of the town of Haven, sited on the top of a forested hill designated 403, between the town itself and a command bunker. The town sprawled up the hillside towards it. The mission parameters were adjusted accordingly.

617 Squadron touched off from Terra Nova on the night of June 4th, the Army Biotic Assault platroon and Verdun Squad on board, making its way through the relays at the low point of traffic in the Skyllian Verge sectors. Meanwhile, the Alliance Navy combat group responsible for deploying the Army taskforces began embarking the troops and loading the titans for the second phase of the attack.

On Torfan itself, there seemed to be fresh conflict between Governor Sak'davran and Captain Sasko Char. The former issued a decree on June 3rd, ordering the commanders of the militia to report to him in person within ten days or be removed from their commissions. No reason was given for this publicly, other than to reassure the public of the loyalty of the Governor to the Hegemony despite their poor circumstances, but it is clear from the urgency of the order that there was some concern about whether or not the militia leaders would follow Sak'davran or Char. This was quite appropriate, considering that a great many did indeed owe their loyalty to the Firstborn's chief, and not to the Governor. This would be yet another factor in the bloodshed to come.

* * *

THE BATTLE

**_Phase 1: The Angels' Landing_**

The first part of the Torfan Expeditionary Forces entered orbit around Torfan's superterrestrial parent planet, Jalla, at about 0500 hour local time. The A-62s of 617 Squadron carrying bomb loads immediately proceeded to their preparatory positions in low orbit of Torfan's smaller, atmosphere-lacking sister moon, Gnub. Meanwhile, the bombers acting as stealth troop transports moved into Torfan's atmosphere, bouncing off it and deploying the sixty or so assault pods while in-atmo. Vectoring towards a forest clearing that would also serve as the main landing zone for Taskforce Smaland, both the units of Major Kyle and Lieutenant-Commander Shepard made it to the surface without casualties or detection by the batarian forces present nearby. Those who saw the bombers mistook them for shooting stars, a phenomenon not uncommon on that world. Unfortunately, the noise of the pods landing did attract attention, although the investigation of the source would not begin for some hours.

Immediately, Major Kyle assigned a fireteam under one Corporal Delgado to Shepard's own squad, to aid in the sweep of the landing zone for mines, sensors and weapon emplacements. Meanwhile, the rest of his force began hiding and camouflaging the assault pods, so that they would not indicate to enemy patrols that a force had arrived. It took approximately an hour to complete the sweep and clear of the full landing zone. With their first objective successfully completed, Major Kyle was confident of pushing on to the next; the GARDIAN batteries. The warehouses thought to contain their power and aiming modules were already visible on the hilltop to the east, although the weapons themselves were retracted into their protective silos.

As daylight began stretching out over the sky, revealing the spectacular vista of planets that has become so famous now in films about the events, Shepard's expanded squad led the way through the dense evergreen forests of the area around Haven towards Hill 403. This took several hours, as the batarian militia was fond of using the forests for orienteering and combat training. On two separate occasions, only the forward presence of Shepard herself discovered patrols in time to avoid detection. On a third, a group of militiamen gone AWOL for a drink practically ran into Shepard after rising from their reverie. The Lieutenant-Commander was swiftly aided by Corporal Delgado in dispatching the threat with a minimum of noise using biotics. Fortunately for the whole operation, the drunks had no communication devices, undoubtedly to prevent their superiors from tracking them down, and the advance continued.

By about 1300 hours local time, the platoon was in place around the warehouses and the GARDIAN batteries. Shepard's team again was selected for the hardest job of entering what intelligence suggested was the main warehouse, as the attack on the facility commenced in general. The batarian guards were lifted from their feet, thrown against walls with bone-crushing force or torn apart in mid-air by gravitational pull. The full potential of a biotic commando attack was unleashed on behalf of humanity for the first time. Shepard,, Lutevenko, Farragat, Delgado, and two other soldiers from the Biotic Assault team moved inside quietly from the east. Remarkably, the attack went entirely unnoticed initially, either by militia in the town or the Firstborn in the bunker complex still further east.

What was inside the main warehouse was not what Shepard or anyone else expected to find. Entering from the roof rather than the ground, the Lieutenant-Commander's team started down what appeared to be a corridor with offices leading off of it. The process of clearing this section revealed far less tasteful uses for the rooms. The first were living quarters, temporary but well fitted for that role. Almost all of the rest were tiled torture rooms, equipped to chain prisoners on walls, in the centre of spaces, or bent over. Many still had blood and other fluids dried on the floor, the captors not bothering to have cleaned up. There were drug cabinets with a variety of hallucinogenic and addictive chems in most. The suit telemetry of Verdun Squad's entry into these spaces remains intact to this day, and the purpose of these spaces is as obvious now as it was then; the breaking and taming of new slaves.

Investigation of the main chamber of the warehouse revealed hundreds of cages, holding dozens of kidnapped Alliance citizens, the last of a batch kidnapped during a raid on Benning. That raid was a particular embarrassment to the Alliance, being the closest garden world to Arcturus Station itself. Sweeps of the other warehouses found more evidence of slaver activity, but no more slaves. Furthermore, Corporal Delgado was killed and another two soldiers injured when he attempted to open the cage for the women, a directional mine triggered as a booby trap doing the job. Although obviously intended to deter the lower caste batarians from partaking of the female prisoners, the loss was felt keenly and personally by Shepard.

Questioning the captives revealed new information. They had been paraded through towns at various times, completely naked, jeered at by crowds of armed batarians. People had been given over to privileged individuals or those 'worthy of reward', for amusement and gratification. It appeared that the entirety of the world was aware to some extent of the crimes being carried out, and many were eager participants. This changed matters entirely. High Command thought most of the world's population to be dupes rather than co-conspirators in the plot.

The reaction of the assault force to the news was one of complete disgust. Telemetry data indicates heated exchanges over the mission parameters as the captives were being freed, particularly between Lieutenant-Commander Shepard and Major Kyle. The former demanded the mission be turned towards evacuating those rescued and the annihilation of the town proper from orbit. The latter, as commanding officer of the mission, refused and wished to arm the captives. New information found on-site indicated that the AA control computers were in the command bunker, alongside two reserve GARDIAN batteries that were too well protected to destroyed by an airstrike with the available munitions. The assault would need every man and woman capable of fighting to try and storm the bunker.

In the end, the two senior officers compromised. Despite Kyle's wish to maintain the secrecy of the mission, the N7 would be allowed to use their air support against the exposed batteries and the town of Haven itself. This would deny militia reinforcements to the bunker, leaving them facing only the garrison within. Regardless of Shepard's fears about jumpy civilians being armed, even if they were from Benning's heavily militarised culture, the captives would join in on the assault against the command bunker. Those freed were generally very eager to get even with those who had abused them, and as the batarians were smart enough to keep their charges well fed, were not weakened by the experience. The strike force, swollen to about one hundred and thirty armed personnel, departed the compound as Shepard called in the bombers. 617 Squadron came from their outer markers into a low orbit, before launching the conventional suborbital laser guided bombs. Half an hour after the order was given, Haven and the AA battery on its hill was no more. Nothing but smoking craters served as the graves of ten thousand eight hundred batarian exiles, many of whom had seen their homes destroyed by the Alliance on two dozen worlds before.

**_Phase 2: The Killing Ground_**

Kyle led his expanded force towards the bunker through the forest, but made less headway than he had hoped by the time he reached their own baseline to attack. It took hours to traverse the rough terrain, pockmarked with limestone karst that rose up out of the soil seemingly at random. No small amount of time was lost pulling civilians out of holes, after they lost their footing on false ledges or weak vegetation covering over sheer drops. By the time Verdun squad was in position on overwatch and the biotics ready to assault, the troops had been awake for some eighteen hours with only two hours rest. Many had not been able to afford themselves the luxury of sleep, nightmares among the young biotics of the abuses they imagined had occurred at Haven wrecking their nerves. This led to medication among most of them, biotics requiring concentration and alertness to operate at peak. This drug-induced trance of alertness and anger would drive them onwards.

Meanwhile, the batarians were not idle. The bombing attack on Haven was a bolt of lightning, noted by everyone on the moon. All over Torfan, militia units began to gather, expecting Alliance titans and walkers to drop out of the sky at any moment. The Firstborn even sallied out of their bunker to investigate the ruins of the town, skirting around the forest on the road, finding only ashes and dust where once there had been a prosperous settlement. However, as the hours dragged on, no Alliance fleet appeared in orbit, no ultimatums for surrender were issued, and no communication from Consul Taro was received. Governor Sak'davran began to think that the bombing was the end of it, a limited use of force by a galactic power with far greater concerns to deal with. And perhaps, a warning to him, that the Alliance knew about the External Forces presence on Torfan and the slaving operation they were charged with operating.

Captain Sasko Char was under no such illusions. Any delay on the Alliance's part was tactical in his view, and the Firstborn remained on high alert in their bunker, ready to strike out at any human force landing nearby their position. His tanks and light vehicles were rearmed and refuelled for a long engagement, his troops fed and placed in firing positions around the entrance to the bunker rather than inside it. When the Governor called to inform him that the militia would be standing down to a lower alert level, the Captain threatened executions if the high alert was not maintained. This would contribute to many of the deaths to come.

The attack on the bunker commenced after nightfall. Led by the biotic troops, with both the armed prisoners and Shepard's N5 marines in support, the assault force aimed towards a perceived gap in the batarian defences across a clearing that doubled as a discreet landing pad. Unfortunately, disastrously, the area was not a gap in the defences, but rather one covered by both the entirety of the Firstborn's Verush Heavies and several machinegun nests. These were well concealed amongst the limestone outcroppings, emplacements designed to cover the evacuation of the bunker in the event of an Alliance invasion. They did their job well.

What happened next was a slaughter.

The batarians let the whole group get half way across the clearing before opening fire, beginning their own counterattack with psychological warfare. Their tanks' camouflaging was discarded and the engines roared to life, causing the force to stop dead in shock. The Alliance troops ducked for cover, as the Revenant machineguns opened up on the dazed former captives. Although well armed and armoured with looted equipment that was a match for the batarians' own, the Firstborn's arsenal eliminated them from the board in seconds. Among the dead was an injured Major Kyle, the only other person besides Shepard who would survive the encounter.

The biotics and the N5s, shell-shocked but alive, continued the advance, their abilities and training shielding them most of the way. The sheer weight of firepower was against them, and despite heroic attempts, most were cut down. A few managed to reach the batarian lines with biotic charges, or as with the N5s with sheer determination, but the enemy were already reinforcing their positions with soldiers from other sectors. They found themselves surrounded quickly and cut down at short range, sometimes with sabres and improvised maces. The batarians immediately began looting the corpses for weapons and souvenirs.

Shepard found herself alone. In front and below her, every single one of the soldiers she had arrived with and fought beside was dead, as far as she knew. Alongside them lay those who had been abused, beaten and raped, yet had decided to fight too. In this moment, she said nothing. She did not weep, she did not mourn or pray for the dead. She did not retreat, or call for immediate reinforcement from the fleet which was surely coming by this point.

She prepared to attack.

Half an hour after the massacre of Major Kyle's strike force, Sasko Char stepped out of the bunker to inspect the carnage, leaving only a handful of technicians in the bunker to monitor events elsewhere. Every single one of his soldiers was there to see it too, the platoons involved in the defence being congratulated, carried around on the shoulders of their fellows. Char was particularly interested to see the corpses of the N5s, as he had watched the entire encounter by vid-link, and had noted that they had managed to make it to his lines without the use of biotic fireworks. He bent over and picked the omnitools off of them. Suddenly, the tools flared to life, indicating an inbox receipt on both of their screens. Char stood up and opened the message.

"_Smile_"

Before the Captain could react, a hypervelocity slug slammed through his neck, decapitating him. The slug continued through four more men, taking one's arm off at the shoulder, before wedging itself deep in a fifth batarian's chest cavity. The bodies fell like dominos, against those still breathing as if they had simply fallen asleep. Four dead, one gravely wounded. Shepard had reaped her first harvest of batarian lives, using her Rorsch AMR as a terror weapon. The Firstborn reacted with near-complete professionalism and discipline, reactivating their kinetic barriers, falling back into cover as the Verush tanks opened up on the treeline where the shot had come from. Curses and shouting were drowned out by the screaming of the wounded batarian, until his fellows put him out of his misery with a single shot to the head.

Scans of the forest from the bunker came up empty. The remaining assailants were hiding, the batarians sneered, meaning that they were vastly outnumbered. The second-in-command, one Lieutenant Fathi Jako, ordered the Verush tanks and two platoons to advance into the forest, to search and destroy the remaining Alliance force. The five tanks rumbled forwards in a wide wave, squads of soldiers mounted on top of them, the turrets' spotlights scanning from side to side over their heads like a scorpion's stinger. It was exactly the move Shepard had hoped for. Her N5s had ditched all unnecessary equipment before joining the assault, and she now used that to her advantage.

Six roller mines activated, and once the armoured vehicles had passed through the treeline, tracked towards their targets softly. Shrouded by the darkness and the noise of the tanks' engines, none of the batarians noticed the metal balls following in their wake. The first two mines targeted the same tank in the middle of the formation, bouncing onto it before detonation, blowing the entire back half of the Verush clean off as they landed in the engine block's maintenance trench. The line came to a halt to let the troops dismount, searching for what had caused the explosion, but this allowed the other mines to catch up. The other four tanks were disabled in quick succession, either their tracks blown off or their engines crippled. The two infantry platoons assigned to protect the tanks were almost unperturbed, helping the crews clamour out of their hatches and helping those wounded by the explosions. They began to spread out, fearing artillery or grenades.

Shepard struck again, exploiting the increase in spacing. She began on the left of the formation, closing to near point blank range with her tactical cloak and opening fire on individual squads so close that their barriers were near-useless. By the time each reacted, half of its members were already dead, and the rest were easy prey either for her rifle or for her omniblade. They had no time to report that it was only a single soldier attacking them. She had chewed through two of the three squads in the first platoon by the time they realised, and had finished off the last by the time the other platoon had moved up in support. The odds growing long even for her taste, she withdrew, boobytrapping some of the batarian bodies with their own fragmentation grenades, a trick that chalked up another half dozen kills.

Fathi Jako was utterly astonished as he watched the remains of one platoon withdraw in confusion from the forest, his tanks burning behind them. Among the trees came the occasional flash of lightning, followed by a thunderclap and another hypervelocity slug chasing after the retreating troops, ploughing through them in bloody rends. Batarian blood now mixed with human blood in the soil in front of the bunker. Jako was the son of a high priest, and to him, it appeared they were not being hunted by a human, but the God of Thunder, an ancient deity, taker of those who violated the Pillars' edicts. Such superstitions had been abandoned long ago, but not forgotten.

Entirely unwilling to commit the remaining four platoons to close with Shepard, Jako ordered that the entire company break out their ML-77 missile launchers to saturate the entire forest facing towards the space. The order was simple; if it looks suspicious either on heat sensors or IRNV, light it up. If Shepard was going to ground, Jako intended to leave no ground to go to. Soon, the increasingly twitchy batarian noble warriors were streaming missiles into the forest from their foxholes and trenches seemingly at random, splintering trees and smashing rock into dust.

Increasingly, Shepard was forced to move towards the batarian positions, as the fire seemed to roll down the hill behind her. Soon, she would have been forced into the open, and her cloak would not last long enough to traverse the space unseen. Desperate, she came up with a brilliant countermeasure. She moved to the very edge of the forest, away from the great majority of the missiles' destinations, and took aim. Finding the largest concentration of enemy troops, she targeted not the troopers but their weapons. As the ML-77 was a long device, it was beyond the protections of kinetic barriers at its vulnerable tip. Shepard, a superlative marksman, waited until one batarian soldier was aiming. The shot penetrated the casing of the front missile, but set off the entire tube. The disruptor ammunition she favoured had detonated the missiles. The entire trench was cleared out, as secondary explosions from stored ammunition added to the chaos.

The Lieutenant-Commander repositioned and repeated the trick, missing as often as she struck home, targeting slung grenades or reload tubes as much as missile launchers themselves. Another four squads were destroyed or mangled in this way, all with the objective of forcing Jako's hand. Yet the batarian subcommander would not budge, out of fear. The firing continued, until during one barrage, Shepard struck him down unknowingly. Determined to break the deadlock, and needing time to cool off some of her heatsink clips, she had switched to her Rorsch once more and looked for a target in the rear. Jako just so happened to be repositioning from his command pillbox into a nearby trench. The slug hit him in the hip, sending him spinning like a top and almost cutting him in half at the waist.

With the chain of command in the Firstborn now confused, squad leaders took it upon themselves to begin issuing orders. Some ordered an advance. Others ordered a retreat into the bunker. A few decided to continue with the bombardment of the forest with the missile launchers. The result was perfect anarchy, as those in front charged, those in the middle fired, and those in the back ran away. Shepard exploited this immediately. Those charging towards her received her wrath, at first via her AMR, then her Viper, and finally, her pistol and her omniblade. Not enough soldiers had joined the movement, and a mere three soldiers made it to within spitting distance. Her cloak prevented them from finding her once they had, just long enough for her to execute them with two quick shots to the back of the head and a stab through the chest.

With the threat of being chased now ended, and the troops facing her now thinned out considerably, it was Shepard's turn to advance. She edged around the troops firing at random, and came at them from the right side, where she could deal with them one foxhole at a time. Once again, she approached cloaked until she reached point-blank range, and opened fire so close that her Viper's barrel almost touched the targets. Once they were dead, she dived in after them, leaving the others unaware of her presence save for the sudden silence from their left. Too busy firing to pay much heed, Shepard deposited her Rorsch in the foxhole and picked up one of the Firstborn's Revenant machineguns.

Using the weapon, she stormed the last of the trenches. Many have speculated that she was tempting fate, seeking death now that she had avenged her brothers and sisters in arms. More military minds have pointed out that she had pressed the batarians hard, and needed to keep up the pressure to break them completely. In this, she succeeded. Moving between trenches cloaked, she revealed herself only once she was among the batarians, ripping through them with the Revenant. Often, these had attempted to flee, climbing out of the trench only to be shot in the back on the clearing.

By hour twenty of the mission, every batarian outside the bunker was dead or dying, and Shepard stood alone in the field among the corpses, as the first units of Task Force Smaland arrived to relieve the reconnaissance force in accordance with the battle plan. The Fifth Fleet's Patrol Group 10 had entered orbit during the fight. Alliance titans were already dropping from orbit all over Torfan. The GARDIAN batteries of the bunker remained silent, those inside too terrified to care about the fleet, instead preparing to fight the demon at their door.

**_Phase 3: Invasion_**

Shepard was greeted by the Swedish 145th Mechanised Regiment of the Thirteenth Legion, under Colonel Folkesson. When the colonel asked what her combat behaviour recommendation was for the surrounding area, she answered "Kill them all. Send a message to the rest of the galaxy, that humanity will defend its people, and that those that attack us will die with certainty." A recommendation that was taken to heart. Shepard proceeded to aid in the storming of the bunker complex itself, which was taken with minimal casualties on the Alliance side. No prisoners were taken. General Petrovsky received her reports with silent reserve, but according to his personal journals, he was filled with loathing. Any chance of a merciful transition to Alliance rule was destroyed by the revelation that the kidnapping and slavery of humans was known to batarians on the world, yet that information had not made its way to Alliance ears.

Unfortunately for the residents of Torfan, Governor Sak'davran had taken Captain Char's warnings to heart. When the Alliance Army taskforces arrived, his militia were at full readiness and in no mood to surrender. He did not even attempt to issue an order to this effect. Across the moon, the population was prepared to resist. The planetary capital, Davran, built only ten years before and located only forty miles away from Haven, was besieged. The citizenry desperately attempted to halt the advance of the Swedes and Irish, levelling buildings themselves to block the advance of APCs and walkers, and using flamethrowers to cover their movements from sensors. As on Anhur, the response was swift and decisive. Heavy artillery was trained at each block of the city, before the ruins were picked over by infantry and walkers.

Casualties stacked among Torfan's militia, as the other major settlements and mining complexes were subjected to the same treatment. However, this mix of part timers, criminals, and ex-soldiers held out as long as they could. The Governor's palace fell on the third day, and Sak'davran himself surrendered at gunpoint to troops from Taskforce Ulster, his family beside him. This led to the general collapse of morale among the batarians, and soon, they began surrendering too, stacking arms. Many militia units whom had used flamethrowers found themselves shot while trying to surrender, the Alliance troops unable to believe that they were sincere, and their hostility to the batarians raised to new heights at any rate.

The holdouts would take months to clear, particularly after they fled successfully into the hills, but for the most part, Torfan fell to the Alliance after just four days of real fighting.


	36. TORFAN: The Aftermath

THE BATTLE WON

A week after planetfall of the first Alliance troops, Torfan's major settlements were fully pacified and the population remaining within them fully disarmed. General Petrovsky was installed as Provisional Military Governor, moving into the palace at Davran on the same day that Sak'davran and his family were transferred off-world to the prisoner of war camps on Sidon. Priority was given to resuming economic activity, and pay was increased by fifty percent among manufacturing and mining workers in an attempt to insure continued production. The moon's place within the Alliance supply chain was small, yet important enough to warrant such measures.

Casualties had been staggeringly high for the Hegemony. As much as a quarter of the adult batarian population had been killed or severely wounded in the fighting, and in a matter of mere days. That these deaths included the most prestigous soldiers in the entire batarian order of battle was a clear indication to many of the direction the war was going. The damage to the collective psyche of the colonists of Torfan continues. Alliance casualties were extremely low, a thousand put out of action 'permanently' to use the terminology of the day, and only a third of these were deaths. This figure includes the hundred and thirty killed attacking the command bunker under Major Kyle. In fact, of all the groundside battles fought by the Systems Alliance during the Second Verge War, Torfan had the smallest casualty rate of any battle in which casualties were taken.

* * *

THE AFTERMATH

Batarian resistance to Alliance occupation did not end with the formal surrender of Torfan's Governor. Troops refusing to surrender or unaware of the order to surrender were able to evade Petrovsky's notice well into July, and by then, many of the arms they had possessed had been dumped for use later. Non-violent resistance began days after the humans' victory as well, a movement led by the mothers and wives of dead batarian militiamen forming the centre pivot of efforts. Despite increased pay and benefits on offer by the new military government to keep production going, a general strike was called at the end of June. Food stores built up before the invasion were seized and redistributed, and the barricades went back up to prevent the Alliance garrison from retaking them.

Media interest in the invasion grew quickly. Chiefly, the attack had been the first major military action for a month and a half at least. The complete lack of news regarding the war, despite continued and full mobilisation, led to a frenzy among both human and non-human media once word was passed along that something had happened on Torfan. The existence of the protest movement added fuel to the flames, as the destruction of the refugee town of Haven was brought to the fore as the singular act of brutality to represent all the others. Even before they knew her name, Shepard was dubbed 'the Butcher' by the _Mothers of Torfan_. The Alliance countered with images and video of the slaves rescued from the warehouses, as well as significant documentary evidence recovered pointing to a huge slavery operation on the moon. This solidified a large amount of public support within humanity behind the invasion, and behind its mastermind, Alice Dennison. Among aliens however, to whom slavery was poorly understood and not universally reviled, the reaction was far more mixed.

July 1st saw the leaking of Lieutenant-Commander Shepard's full suit telemetry data, including the full vid recording. The source of the leak has never been discovered, and as many as fifty seven people had enough access to accomplish it. Select moments were put up on popular extranet streaming sites, and the full combat sequence of Shepard taking on the Firstborn alone remains one of the most popular videos in the history of the medium. Citadel talk shows were immediately critical, claiming that the leak was a deliberate attempt to show the valour of a murderer; the leak also revealed that Shepard had authorised the airstrike that destroyed Haven. Among alien circles, only turian militarists came out in favour of the N7, and she has become something of a fetish figure in niche parts of the turian extranet.

Pressure built on the Alliance Government to make some sort of official statement. Consul Taro's official war policy was that no operational information was to be given out to the press even in the aftermath of successful attacks, to prevent the enemy from studying them. This was deemed entirely unsatisfactory by both the more pacifist elements of the human press as well as Citadel news media. Although the distraction from preparations for their own offensives was welcome, the negatives in polling spiked over the weeks following the leak. Having been forced into this position by Dennison, Taro ordered Minister DeBankole to threaten her with an array of audits if the leader of the opposition did not do something to deflect the heat. Begrudgingly, Dennison agreed.

Using her extensive media contacts, Dennison turned discussion about Torfan away from the atrocities and towards Shepard's feat of soldiery. This was accomplished at no small cost. Further strategic leaks were made; the identity of the unit Shepard fought as the Firstborn being the largest. ANN military affairs commentator Christian Desouza could not help but reflect that the Lieutenant-Commander was the Angel of Death, the last plague of God come again to reap the lives of the first born of the oppressive batarians. The moniker stuck. 'The Angel of Death' replaced 'The Butcher of Torfan' in human media as the frame of reference for Shepard, and both were used in turian and asari media almost interchangeably. Humanity had a new hero.

The Batarian Hegemony itself would not learn of the defeat until after the war came to a close, as it remained cut off from the rest of the galaxy by the Alliance's blockade. The news that a single Alliance soldier had ordered the execution of an entire settlement, and went on to defeat the cream of batarian nobility single-handed, was viewed with complete disbelief among most loyalists at first. The shock of it has been attributed as a factor for the batarians' post-war isolationist attitude until the outbreak of the Eden Prime War, when the External Forces were involved in the Terra Nova Incident.

* * *

Torfan itself remained a hotbed of protest, as Petrovsky ignored the movements while media interest in the place persisted. However, once the Battle of the Kite's Nest began, he moved immediately to crush resistance to the occupation. Ringleaders were arrested, the barricades stormed by public order military police units of the Thirteenth Legion, the food stores that sustained the strikers confiscated. Looking at starvation, and with nowhere else to go, the protest movement collapsed. Workers took up their posts once again, and at double pay. Petrovsky had used the stick, and the carrot was twice as alluring to many of the batarian dissidents having felt its sting. The population of the moon was young, and many were beginning to start families of their own in the aftermath. The mood for open resistance disappeared.

Despite this, hardliners never gave up the fight. Motivated primarily by revenge rather than any coherant political doctrine, or any particular loyalty to the Hegemony, terrorist acts against the human occupation forces continued for years. Petrovsky's tenure as Military Governor saw no less than twenty three gun attacks, four grenade attacks and one vehicle-borne improvised explosive attack on his soldiers and Alliance installations. The latter was against the bunker complex that Shepard had fought to take, now the expanded headquarters of Alliance Army operations for the world. Petrovsky's successors did not fare much better.

In late 2183, Shepard was declared MIA and presumed dead, and the Shepard Memorial was constructed on the site of the bunker's old landing ground. This sparked off the first open protests in four years, but these quickly died down as Torfan's garrison was reinforced as part of the Alliance's preparations for the coming Reaper War. However, when Shepard returned in 2185, renewed protest action turned quickly into riots, as massed mobs attempted to storm the site of the memorial to extinguish the flame of remembrance and to destroy the statue of Shepard as a winged victory.

Torfan was largely spared the atrocities of the Collector Crisis, but the Reaper War saw most of the population of the colony harvested for use as troops by the synthetics. Many batarians from Torfan would eventually fight on Earth and other human colonies as 'cannibals', an ironic and horrifying twist of fate. The Reapers made a point of partially demolishing the Shepard Memorial, and erected a strange idol of their own nearby designed to rapidly indoctrinate any organic remaining nearby. The post-Reaper era has not been kind to the moon; with Alliance resources stretched thin, it was occupied by batarian rebels for nearly seven years, until it was retaken by the Alliance in 2193. It remains under military government to this day.

* * *

Colonel-General Oleg Petrovsky served as Provisional Military Governor of Torfan until 2179, when the first political reactions to Torfan began in earnest. The Alliance Parliament's Hearing on Military Ethics of that year examined the possibility of war crimes charges against him, both as the commanding officer of the entire expedition and as Shepard's technical superior for the mission. He answered questions fully and truthfully by all accounts, a man vindicated in his own mind by the necessities of war. Thanks largely due to cooperation between the Navy and Army to obscure where the full military responsibility for the mistakes of the invasion lay, as well as Petrovsky's results in the field both on Anhur and on Torfan itself, no formal charges were ever brought against him for his actions on Torfan. In fact, the brutality and efficiency of his operations were deemed to be fully in keeping with accepted military doctrine of the time and circumstances in which he had found himself.

Petrovsky's enemies did not forget or forgive however. Between the end of the Second Verge War and the 2182 election, he continued to serve as the commander of the Thirteenth Legion, headquartered on Eden Prime for the defence of the Attican Traverse from the newly established border with the Terminus Systems. In 2180, human and turian forces participated in the Grand Exercise together for the first time, and Petrovsky was sent as the highest ranking Alliance Army officer in that cooperative effort. It appeared for a time that he was to rise to lead Troop Command Columbia. However, in 2182, pressure within the government with the coming election saw him removed from command entirely, as less aggressive military policies began to become more popular. Confederalists and greens despised Petrovsky, a symbol of overly centralised government to the former, and a murderer to the latter.

Petrovsky retired from the Alliance military, and became supreme military commander of the growing Cerberus forces in the Terminus in early 2183, just as the geth attacked Eden Prime. He directed the small fleet and army of the independent human colonies in that region of space in support of Alliance efforts to defeat the geth, helping to open the way to the Perseus Veil in a mere month as opposed to the projected time of three months. Cerberus forces became heavily engaged during the Collector Crisis, both with the Collectors themselves and with Citadel forces. Petrovsky wisely used the chaos and confusion of the events of 2185 to expand Cerberus' territorial domain. The start of the Reaper War proper saw him attack and occupy Omega, removing the unreliable Aria T'loak from power there, until the battle that saw him defeated at last.

* * *

Major Jonathan Kyle was the only other survivor of the reconnaissance force sent to Torfan aside from Shepard herself. The experience broke him. Not having the protection of rank as Petrovsky had, or the protection of fame and glory as Shepard did, the 2179 Military Ethics hearings placed a portion of the blame for the airstrike on Haven on his shoulders, along with the deaths of his biotic troops in a foolhardy frontal assault on a fixed position. This conclusion largely ignored key facts, such as the presence of an apparent gap in the defences, and the Alliance Army steadfastly defended Kyle to the bitter end. No charges were brought against the Major either, but his confidence in the Alliance had been totally smashed. He believed his biotic soldiers, most of them still teenagers now dead, had been betrayed by the top brass. His own exoneration was merely to cover their own asses, and he saw the whole thing as an indication of gross bias against biotics in human society.

He retired honourably from the Alliance military almost as soon as his part in the hearings over Torfan were over, and set about gathering like-minded biotics to his side. This group soon became a cult-like organisation, promoting isolation of biotics from the rest of humanity in a separate culture, drawing in many individuals whom did not wish to join the Alliance military and whom were not rich enough for the best treatment of biotic side effects. Several terrorist incidents were connected to the 'Father Kyle Group' in 2183, and Admiral Hackett dispatched the SSV Normandy commanded by Shepard to talk her former comrade-in-arms down. She succeeded. Kyle received psychological aid, while his followers were transferred to the Ascension Project on Yandoa, where he would eventually join them. There, he lived peacefully, until the arrival of the Reapers on that world in 2186. He remains missing, presumed dead.

* * *

Lieutenant-Commander Jane Shepard became both hero and anti-hero, a name known across the galaxy. To most humans, she was the sword that cut down slavers and invaders by the dozen, an exemplar of human achievement against foreign tyranny. To turians, she was either a madwoman or an object of nearly sexual fascination, a soldier who did her duty without question or hesitation despite impossible odds. To the asari and the salarians, she was a warning, that humanity's rise could not be restrained, but rather should be nurtured and controlled in equal measure. To the batarians, she was the incarnation of every atrocity committed by humans against their culture and people.

Shepard herself loathed the publicity her actions had brought her, at least at first. Unable to participate in the Battle of the Kite's Nest due to extensive debriefings, she missed the last fights of the Second Verge War and regretted it loudly. Her participation in the 2179 Parliamentary Hearings was extremely hostile, and many senators were gravely and directly insulted as they attempted to question her actions on Torfan. Fortunately for both her career and the galaxy's future survival prospects, both Consul Taro in government and Alice Dennison in opposition rowed in behind her, crushing any notion that she would face criminal charges or civil suits for her conduct.

However, mandatory counselling revealed that Torfan had scarred the soldier deeply. Shepard had recurring dreams of fighting there for months afterwards, dreams that occasionally returned years later. While she was still fit for service, both the controversy of her continued place in the Alliance Navy and her own psychological state required some decisions to be made as to her future. Alliance High Command was lucky enough to have a ready alternative to hand. Coming from a military family, Shepard had no shortage of mentors and friends to fall back on at this time. Seeing such a fine person go to waste was not an option for Admiral Hackett, her ultimate military superior.

Shepard was promoted to Commander, and assigned as Executive Officer of the cruiser SSV Tokyo under Captain David Anderson, an old friend of her family. In this role, it was intended she would be groomed for eventual promotion to a flag command of her own. As XO, she would both participate in ground missions and put her hand to the wheel in commanding a space vessel, the ideal compromise both for her own sake and for the public image of the Navy. She served under Anderson for four years aboard the Tokyo, before he was granted the command of the new stealth frigate SSV Normandy, a ship she herself would command mere days afterwards. It was during the first combat flight of the Normandy that she would intervene in the first phase of the First Battle of Eden Prime, the catalyst for the Eden Prime War.

* * *

The body of Captain Sasko Char remained in an unmarked mass grave nearby Haven, alongside those of the rest of his unit, for ten years, until after the Reaper War. Batarian rebels, having taken control of the moon, exhumed all the bodies of the Firstborn and placed them in a tomb under the central square of Davran City. He was portrayed as a victim rather than a victor or slaver, a batarian noble sent to look after the interests of the lower castes on Torfan in a time of need. During the Great Upheaval of 2184, this image was largely destroyed by waves of highly effective Alliance propaganda, including tapes of his abuses recovered from Torfan. Regardless, Hegemony loyalists continued to believe in his piety and courage, reviling Shepard for murdering him and his men.

When the Alliance retook Torfan for the second time in 2193, his body was exhumed a second time and burned, his tombstone smashed to dust, and those whom had dared to raise him up as a hero figure hunted down and killed. The post-Reaper era remains one of chaos, and the Alliance has no tolerance for the ghosts of old enemies rising to strike at their prestige and honour.

* * *

Governor Kemen Sak'davran and his family were interned on Sidon until 2179, when they were returned as the last prisoner/slave exchange between the Alliance and the Hegemony, the peace treaty between them secured by his freedom. Although a dissident, and possibly a traitor, Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra found Sak'davran even more untouchable than before, as he was hailed as the last true defender of the batarians' Skyllian holdings. This was quite a feat considering he was one of the few planetary governors to formally surrender to the Alliance during the Second Verge War, but it mattered little. To the lower and middle castes, the most important thing was that he had defended the lives of their kind first, in full accordance with his obligations under the Holy Pillars.

With huge public support at a time when the Arch-Hegemon's position was in severe doubt, he was granted his family's old holdings on Khar'shan itself, ruling over the second largest continent as the governor of the most populous batarian fief in the entire Hegemony. As on Torfan, he concentrated on improving the economic situation of his territory, which he succeeded with as long as his support for Ar'dra remained unwavering. However, in 2183, the Terra Nova Incident brought him into conflict with the Arch-Hegemon once again. The attempt to drive an asteroid into that world struck him as completely insane, a sure invitation for the Alliance to respond with genocidal force. Why Ar'dra and his high command would sign off on such a plan was completely unknown to him at the time.

However, by 2184, he knew why. It was Sak'davran who passed on intelligence via an Illium information broker that Ar'dra had been experimenting with an ancient Reaper corpse connected to the Leviathan of Dis legend. Thus began the Great Upheaval, or as it is known in human history, the Third Verge War. The Reaper artefact itself was kept inside the Great Ziggurat of Khar'shan, directly below Ar'dra's residence. That the man was indoctrinated was thought to be obvious to the Alliance, and increasingly to the independent batarian government on Shan'kharit.

Sak'davran would live just long enough to see the Hegemony fall, and the beginnings of a new batarian state take shape, but died of a heart attack in 2185 during the Collector Crisis. His son succeeded him, but died himself during the Reaper invasion of his homeworld.

* * *

Alice Dennison's political career rocketed due to the events of Torfan. Many of those who could not believe a fiscal conservative capable of supporting hardline military action were disabused of that opinion almost immediately. Polling for her People's Party spiked on the larger border colonies almost immediately, and at the expense of her immediate political rivals. This was not without cost however. Her support for Shepard had been an unplanned thing, forced upon her both by circumstance and by the manoeuvring of the Tiger, Consul Taro. Some of her more anti-human business partners broke ties with her corporations in the months following the Alliance victory, in protest at what they saw as an expansionist policy. Dennison had never advocated isolationism or supremacism, but found herself painted by hostile aliens as doing just that. Her personal opinion of Shepard's conduct was not glowing, at least partially as a result of these business losses.

The end of the Second Verge War brought new political possibilities to the Alliance, and of all people, Dennison was eager to exploit them. However, she was not the only person positioned to take advantage. By the election of August 2182, the Alliance public were in disarray as to what they wanted their future to look like. It had been almost four years to the day since victory, the batarians were too weak to contest Alliance dominance of her own space, the Citadel looked like granting a seat within a lifetime, and the Terminus opened up its own possibilities. The vote splintered. No party won an outright majority, and Dennison was forced into coalition with DeBankole, now leader of his own party having succeeded Taro.

The new administration was three months old when the geth attacked Eden Prime, and the priorities of humanity shifted once more towards war. Dennison would play her part in the fighting to come, assuring that the Alliance would lack for nothing as far as she could make it so, facing down scepticism and outright hostility from the Citadel powers, and promoting further ties with the Quarians. Without Torfan, it is quite possible that one of humanity's most capable economic and political minds would not have helped lead during the greatest war the galaxy could ever see.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: A few smallish spoilers for other stories in the Battlefield series, but nothing earth-shattering. _

_With this and the next part, the Battle of the Kite's Nest, we've reached the beginning of Battlefield 2183's storyline, but that story is not yet complete. I can't really start writing up battles for the Eden Prime War until I finish that, because I would have to spoil hugely to get the job done._

_So, if I haven't finished 2183 by the time I've finished the Kite's Nest writeup, perhaps you guys would like to see a writeup of the First Contact War? Non-spoilered for BF2157 of course. Tell me in reviews or PMs if that's something you'd enjoy reading._

_Hope you've enjoyed this so far!_


	37. THE KITE'S NEST: Prelude to Battle

THE VERGE CONFLICT:

**Second Verge War: _Battle of the Kite's Nest (2178)_**

In September 2178, the battle between the Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony, that which would end the Second Verge War and bring about an unbroken five year peace, finally began after two months of waiting. This was a battle unique thus far in the annals of galactic warfare. For the first time in history, the decisive factor would not be the dreadnought, but the carrier-borne FTL-capable fighter. Capital ships would never come into firing range of one another, and cruisers would fight a whirling hit and run battle as the batarians saw their strategic lines turned inside out. Whole squadrons would come under 'alpha strike' assaults, wherein the only defence was sheer weight of countermeasures.

For the Systems Alliance, it should have been a triumph totally eclipsing that of Elysium and Anhur, but circumstance was to prove a cruel mistress for the increasingly ambitious plans of the Taro Administration. For the batarian people, it was like ice water, awakening them to the reality of the war. Only the intervention of third parties saved the Hegemony from total and immediate collapse, but the battle would strike a fatal, slow bleeding wound, one that would eventually end in revolution and invasion some six years later.

The objective of humanity was clear. Bypass the defences of the mass relays at the Kite's Nest, destroy the Batarian Navy's capability to defend Khar'shan, and cut the head off the snake by laying siege to the Hegemony's capital. Of these objectives, the first two would be accomplished with stunning speed. The third fell just within humanity's grasp, but was snatched away at the last moment by political and military developments that arose as a symptom of her own success.

However, despite this, the battle would still mark the next phase of the Alliance's meteoric rise in stature. The path that had begun with First Contact would travel through the Kite's Nest. In the aftermath, humanity would be seriously considered for the greatest prize of all; a seat with the other major species as part of the Citadel Council itself. That other species had waited centuries for mere diplomatic recognition meant nothing before the ambition and energy of humankind, now made manifest by the great victory.

* * *

The Kite's Nest, the home cluster of the batarian species and seat of government of the Hegemony, lies against the Skyllian Verge, a bubble of star systems next to a great band of stars that stretch along the edge of the 'Terran' spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The batarians themselves long had an interest in the relatively nearby worlds, but had long been frustrated in their attempts to turn this interest into territorial gains. Before contact with the greater galaxy, their primary stumbling block was technological. The Prothean ruins that the batarians had access to were by far the most degraded of any major sites in the galaxy, and pre-contact batarian FTL drives and cores were deeply flawed designs. They simply could not move ships of sufficient size fast enough to explore and colonise the huge boons waiting just out of reach.

Once the batarians made contact with the Citadel via the relay system, this technological barrier was slowly but surely eliminated. What should have followed was a new golden age for the species, but this dream would be frustrated. The batarians were finally granted an embassy in 3 CE, which should have opened up colonisation of the entire Skyllian Verge from the Kite's Nest itself through to what was then turian-claimed territories and would later become the core of the Human Systems Alliance. However, the reason for the admittance of the batarians was that the Citadel desperately required new allies. Two years prior to gaining official recognition, the Rachni were encountered. A series of embarrassing and increasingly devastating defeats were inflicted upon Citadel forces. The batarians, the quarians and the hanar all gained their embassies during the Rachni Wars prior to contact with the krogan, as the Citadel determined to unite the galaxy against a threat that would have wiped away the diversity of sentient life. The later irony of this in light of the threat of the Reapers is not lost on humanity, though the asari, turians and salarians can rightfully claim that the Reapers were a more subtle threat at first.

The Rachni Wars brought another barrier to batarian expansion in the Verge; laws against exploration of uncharted clusters. This applied not only to sectors accessible by relay only, but also those theoretically accessible by regular FTL travel. It looked like the Verge would never become the great boon of the batarian people. The Hegemony's descent in mass slaving and ever increasing hierarchy can be traced from the disappointment of this time, as the supply of garden worlds dried up everywhere save for the lawless Terminus Systems. The centuries-long descent into tyranny was subtle; it needed to be in order for the batarians to retain their seat at the table of galactic politics. It happened nonetheless, the batarian ego incapable of grasping a situation whereby they would be subordinate rather than supreme.

Then, like a thunderbolt from the gods, humanity arrived. The turians were defeated at Shanxi, and forced into a humbling treaty. They ceded all the claims they had failed to act upon in the regions beyond the Verge, a huge number systems stretching from the Krogan DMZ to the Verge itself. Added to the clusters humanity had already claimed via previously unopened relays, the Systems Alliance became the fourth largest territorial entity in the galaxy overnight. Again, the batarians began to hope. The Skyllian Verge had been charted but not claimed during the First Contact War. Khar'shan dreamed of sharing in humanity's glory, and expanding its own colonies into the region. It was not to be.

Humans and batarians were to share the Verge, or so said the asari. Batarian suspicions arose almost immediately. The physiological similarities between asari and humans provoked vulgar accusations that the former saw the latter as valuable mating material. The asari were thinking with something other than their brains. What else could it be? They had granted yet another huge swath of territory to a set of aliens close enough to emulate asari themselves. The fantasy of asari-asari pairings that were largely taboo by this point due to the Ardat-Yakshi syndrome was indeed a heady one for many of Thessia's children.

All the worse that a great number of humans shared the enthusiasm, combined with a power lust that bordered on the fanatical. The batarians saw a grave threat, and hoped the other council races would agree. The salarians were nonchalant about the idea of humanity taking over, and informed the Hegemony that appropriate measures were being planned. The turians rejected the idea of an anti-human bloc outright, and not only due to asari pressure. Much respect had been bought by the humans through their innovative tactics and technologies, as well as the revelation that they were a sleeping giant, a mostly civilian society that had managed to hold off Palaven's wrath.

So the disputed territory increasingly became a battleground, truly so with the admission of humanity as a recognised Citadel species in 2165. Batarians widely felt they had no choice.

The Verge was visible from Khar'shan with only the most basic astronomical equipment, and at higher altitudes, even appeared as a band of light in the sky poking out of the Milky Way. Some historians theorise that its proximity combined with continuous frustration at possession drove batarian society to paranoia, even without the pernicious influence of the Reapers.

The dream of colonising the space would be more than two thousand years old when it was finally crushed by the Alliance Navy in 2178. That the Verge was so close to the heart of the Hegemony was ultimately to be their undoing.


	38. THE KITE'S NEST: The Leaders

THE LEADERS

**_Nozomi Taro_**_, "The Tiger",__Consul of the Systems Alliance_

By mid-2178, Consul Taro was on the cusp of becoming a living legend almost without parallel.

She had thrown back the batarian aggression, punished the Terminus barons for their complicity, liberated Anhur from slavers, seized the Verge to sate humanity's wanderlust, and held off all attempts by the Citadel to moderate the scale of her ambitions through sheer shock at her success. The elections of 2177 had been a complete victory, delivering a solid majority to her own political party and a supermajority to the "War Coalition" consisting of the Labour Party, the People's Party and Terra Firma. The Consul possessed more personal power than any human being in history, a combination of fear, love and awe in equal measure keeping it that way. Although she was not the only person who had foreseen the war to come, she was by far the most effective advocate for its prosecution.

And yet, Taro's final gambit was yet to be played. The Consul was well aware that the conflict would not end until the Hegemony itself was ended. To this end, she had made extensive preparations. The batarian exiles were courted, organised, armed, and eventually colonised on a new garden world, Shan'kharit. Everything and anything that could de-legitimise the government on Khar'shan was gathered, spun and thrown at the galactic media in the most sensational terms possible. Plans for a post-war settlement involving alliance between humanity and the batarians were 'leaked' at convenient opportunities, particularly after great victories, to the end of assuring the galaxy that genocide was not her agenda. Privately, she knew that slaughtering those on Khar'shan would have been far easier. Her surviving diaries paint a picture of a woman certain of particular realities, convinced that it would come to a kill-or-be-killed scenario, that the Hegemony would never surrender unless those loyal to it were all dead.

The political barriers to complete victory were joined by military ones. Since the early Alliance offensives in the Verge, a stalemate existed across most of the front. This was not an unusual occurrence in galactic warfare due to its nature, but it was an intolerable one. Long before the war, Taro had ordered extensive studies at how best to break deadlocks of the kind now faced by the Alliance, particularly those that might be faced across the Verge. It was to avoid such a stalemate that the attack on Elysium had been turned into an ambush, rather than simply repulsing the batarians as they came in-system. That had been highly successful, but not so much so that the path to Khar'shan lay open. The preparations paid handsome dividends, augmented by practical experience in the Yuki Cluster.

By July 2178, Taro had the means to slip a knife between the ribs of the Hegemony, straight into its heart. Her ultimate triumph awaited her command, one that she was eager to give.

* * *

**_Kesrak Ar'dra_**_, Arch-Hegemon of the Batarian Hegemony_

The Arch-Hegemon's position in 2178 had stabilised to a large extent from the dramatic falls of two years previous. Although his empire had lost forty percent of its inhabitable worlds and thirty percent of its industrial capacity, the majority of military production and the resources to feed it remained save behind the 'Verge Wall' of fixed defences guarding the relays into the rest of batarian space. With the loss of the Yuki Cluster, all news from outside the Hegemony was cut off, and civilian life actually improved as no grand offensives could be launched. The Arch-Hegemon was supremely confident that his schemes involving the kidnapping and enslaving of colonists would provoke humanity into a foolhardy attack against the Verge Wall, whereby the Navy under his cousin could counterattack. He ordered the fixed defences prioritised alongside capital ship production. By 2178, the Hegemony would be ringed with steel, and would possess no less than ten dreadnoughts, half of which were of the new Fang of Khar'shan-class.

With plentiful work and no information to upset them, the lower castes settled into new and productive lives, a boomtime that had not been seen in decades. However, the noble classes found the situation entirely unsatisfactory. The memories of their relatives being targeted for nuclear annihilation by Alliance missile frigates were fresh and painful. Every month that passed where the Alliance did not fall into Ar'dra's trap, more and more nobles joined the party in favour of an all-out offensive using the strength being built up behind the Verge Wall.

Historians are divided as to what effects such an attack would have had. Certainly, dreadnoughts are very well suited to forcing relay passages, and if concentrated against one of the four relay passages guarding the front, they could have overwhelmed the defences before the Alliance reserves could react. However, intelligence on the strength of the Alliance Navy waiting for them was non-existent. No one on Khar'shan could tell where the weakest part of the line was, just as no one on Earth could. Attacking was a huge gamble, one that the government was not willing to take without first whittling down the enemy by drawing them into a trap.

Ar'dra saw to it that the disgruntled nobles were suppressed, albeit with the least amount of bloodshed possible. After the purges, almost all of those left were, or had been, staunch loyalists. Discontent among his core support was a great concern, balanced only by the temporary support of the masses. Luckily, with the Navy and Army firmly under his control, the Arch-Hegemon thought himself in well-positioned to survive. Considering that his regime would outlast the war, there is much evidence to suggest that he was right. However, there was nothing that the Arch-Hegemon could do to stop the oncoming attack on his core systems. Even if he could have discovered the strategy by which Taro intended to undo all his preparations, the Hegemony simply no longer possessed the capacity to stop her.

Humanity was coming, and her greatest enemy knew it not.


	39. THE KITE'S NEST: Strategy

STRATEGY FOR OFFENCE

The objectives of the Systems Alliance in the Kite's Nest, and the war generally, were ambitious but entirely necessary to preserve the dignity, security and prosperity of humanity for the future. First of all, the Hegemony's naval power would need to be annihilated. Secondly, Khar'shan itself would have to be invaded and subjugated, in order to bring the whole rotten edifice of the Hegemony crashing down. Thirdly, the victory in space and the launch of the ground campaign would have to be so swift as to crush any chance of the other batarian clusters coming to aid the homeworld. Taken together, the Alliance did indeed have the capability to achieve these objectives.

Unknown to the Hegemony, and only speculated upon by human intelligence operatives, the Alliance had significant advantages in naval strength, derived mostly from the superior quality of its ships and tactics. The batarians would always outnumber the Alliance on the ground, but with space superiority, the emphasis on troop quality and the use of drones, the numbers counted for little.

The batarians possessed one supreme advantage that invalidated all of the Alliance's own, and it was rooted in the nature of galactic-scale war. A nature that is extremely difficult to overcome; it is almost impossible to launch attacks across wide fronts from one cluster to another, as relay travel is and was the only way to transit between the void of space. The relatively small jumpzones can be flooded with mines, guarded by space stations and fleets, and crowded with asteroids. Stalemates across relays could be maintained for decades, broken only by the application of brute force. This problem is at the root of why both the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions stretched into centuries-long conflicts. Both species faced by the Council in those wars were supremely adapted to attritional warfare, and yet they could not overcome this simple reality of war. On occasions where they did break relay defences, they often found their supply lines in great danger. Many lives were lost to bring the genophage to Tuchanka.

From the very beginning, the Alliance looked to humanity's own genius for innovation to try and break this reality. In the First Contact War, miming turian IFFs in the latter weeks of the conflict proved successful, until the end of the war put an end to that concept with better VI capability. At Elysium, when Combined Battlefleet Hiryu arrived through the main system relay, it was preceded by Scylla-class transrelay ballistic missiles delivering cobalt-encased thermonuclear weapons. These are designed to flood the sensors of the defending batarian ships with heat and radiation contacts like a chaff grenade. Of all techniques used to confound relay defences, this has proven the most long-lived; the higher the resolution of enemy sensors, the worse affected they are by this method. The geth would find this a particularly galling tactic during the Eden Prime War, especially combined with quarian electronic countermeasures.

However, these methods can fail and still require a crucial risk; the attacking force must still send their ships through the relay and into the tiny jumpzone on the defender's side. Even firing blind, defending forces can inflict significant casualties, particularly on cruiser-sized ships and beyond. This was why the counterattack at Elysium was headed up by frigate wolfpacks, to destabilise the batarian defences before the cruisers, carriers and dreadnoughts arrived. Frigates are small and fast enough to make lucky hits far less likely.

Consul Taro and Minister deBankole were well aware of this problem before the beginning of the Second Verge War. Their most realistic expectations as early as 2174 were that when the war came, the Alliance could push the batarians all the way back to the Kite's Nest but not follow them there by relay. When these predictions were proven absolutely correct two years later, planning for an alternative strategy had already begun.

The Verge is a wing of densely packed star clusters, of which the Kite's Nest can be considered an exclave. It had long been theorised by batarian astronomers and spaceflight experts that the Verge and the Kite's Nest could be bridged by normal FTL in as little as a year. Proposals to that effect were brought to the Citadel Council by the Hegemony in the aftermath of the Rachni Wars, but rejected. A year at FTL without shutting down the cores for maintenance was unthinkable, and the travel time would be greatly increased if stops had to be made. The idea was set aside and forgotten by almost everyone, even as advances in FTL technology shaved months off the potential travel time as the centuries went by. When the Alliance Defence Intelligence Directorate went looking for ways to bypass the defences of the Kite's Nest, it rediscovered these proposals in the Citadel public archives.

In 2175, Commander Federic Kohaku, a naval analyst with the DID, redid the calculations to account for the military FTL designs of the Alliance. The travel time from the edge of the Verge to the edge of the inhabited Kite's Nest was found to be as little as two months, provided that communications, supply and discharge sites could be established along the route. When this was reported to the Consul at a cabinet meeting, it is reported that she did nothing but smile widely for the rest of the entire session, as her ministers descended into jubilant planning. After the war began, the necessary infrastructure for bypassing the Verge Wall was already prefabricated.

Once the Hegemonic Navy had been pushed back, and it was certain that there was no way the batarians could obtain intelligence about activities, the scouting and construction of the first part of the bridge into the Kite's Nest was started. The path would come to be known as Tower Bridge, as the famous bridge in London was undergoing reconstruction at huge expense around the same time. From 2176 to 2178, the deep space squadrons roved ever forwards, connecting distant stars together in a great chain of stations and FTL comm-buoys.

The Alliance had its path into the Hegemony's core, but it also required a whole new strategy to take advantage.

The last part of Tower Bridge would have to be completed just as the Navy began its two month journey, as the nearest charted pre-war batarian outpost was two light-months from where the last refuelling, supply and comms station would have to be placed. It was entirely possible that the station could be discovered just before the Alliance Navy arrived, leading to a fight on the edges of the Kite's Nest rather than one closer to Khar'shan. It was determined that the batarian outpost would have to be taken by force, and a First Legion unit was assigned to the task along with a navy bomber squadron to make a stealthy approach.

The exit of Tower Bridge was 'north-west' of Khar'shan itself, both more or less level with the galactic plain. This left obvious two attack options for Alliance planners. They could use a smaller number of fleets to push through to the Viper Nebula relay via the secondary relay within the Harsa System itself. This would leave the defences of the Viper Nebula open to easy attack from within, opening the relay there to Alliance forces from the Traverse. These combined forces would then attack Khar'shan.

Alternatively, they could bring the majority of the Navy's fleets through Tower Bridge and attack directly, using the secondary relay's jumpzones as an ambush point against the fleets guarding the other relays of the Verge Wall. Both plans had distinct advantages, but both were flawed. Using the bridge to merely open the Viper Nebula relay route would leave the Navy to depend on the Harsa secondary relay, which could be guarded against if the batarians acted quickly and cut the route there. Bringing the majority of forces through via Tower Bridge would leave them with a very long supply line, requiring more of the vulnerable cargo vessels to be sent through with the fleets than was ideal.

By the start of 2178, the question of which strategy should be used was becoming urgent, and debate within the Navy was becoming rancorous. The Army, eager to begin its own planning for the invasion of Khar'shan itself, lost its patience, and brought a compromise forward directly to the Consuls. The three heads of the Troop Commands proposed that the middle ground was the best strategy. Bring half the fleets through Tower Bridge, which was the maximum number that could disappear for two months without raising suspicions. Have the fleets hold at Khar'shan, to divide and conquer the Hegemonic Navy. Use the deterrence frigates to destroy the fixed defences at the Viper Nebula and Yuki Cluster relays from behind, allowing passage of three more fleets into the battle. The plan would require seven out of eight combat fleets and the entirety of one part of humanity's WMD triad. In effect, the Army's plan meant going all-in.

Consul Taro approved it immediately and without hesitation.

* * *

STRATEGY FOR DEFENCE

The Hegemony's defensive strategy had two objectives: Lure the Alliance into fighting a trans-relay battle where it would be at a great disadvantage, and counterattack from the other relays as soon as possible, preferably during the Alliance attack. In destroying as much of the Alliance fleet as possible, and seizing key territory back from the humans in the process, Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra hoped at the very least to force a status quo ante bellum via a negotiated settlement. His great hope however was to break the human navy upon the rock of his defences and blitz the entire Verge into his control before the Alliance could recover. It was far from outside the realm of possibility, and Alliance analysts in the post-war period agree that had they been forced to assault the 'Verge Wall' directly, a coordinated counteroffensive could very well have accomplished many of the specific objectives that the Arch-Hegemon had in mind. However, the Alliance plan for such an eventuality was equally devastating; the nuclear holocaust of Khar'shan.

The exact planning for the one-two defence-counterattack strategy was left to Admiral Ar'dra, the same man who had been defeated over Elysium but had still managed to save a portion of the Batarian First Fleet. His cousin brought him back to organise the deployment of the Navy, a task he took to with great zeal. The Batarian First Fleet, refitted and rearmed after Elysium, would guard the Harsa-Prime relay and the Kite's Nest cluster itself. The Second Fleet would guard the Viper Nebula relay and the Bahak system. The Third Fleet would help defend the Yuki-Theta relay and the Petra-Falu relay, splitting its forces in two as these were the furthest from Khar'shan and the least likely to be used. These fleets were numbered according to their strength and the prestige of their commanders, so that the Alliance could expect the most resistance from the First Fleet and the least from the Third. At each relay jumpzone, the fleets would be aided by a large number of space-to-space weapons-stations, ranging in capability from torpedo barges to dreadnought-scale space cannons. Mines were also deployed on the Yuki-Theta relay zone, as it would not be required for the proposed counterattack.

No significant plans for defending Khar'shan or other worlds groundside were made. The assumption was made that if the Navy lost, it would be the duty of every batarian soul to throw themselves upon the enemy to remove them. This was considered absolutely enough to repel the humans should they land, as the slaughter would be so terrible that the Citadel would be forced to intervene. This is not as naïve as it may seem to present-day readers, as the Council would indeed be deeply concerned at the possibility of casualties. Anhur and Torfan would paint the probable bodycount ever higher in the minds of the greater galaxy.

The counterattack phase took into account the batarians' groundside losses. Whichever relay was the source of the Alliance attack, the other major fleet would spring into action. If the attack came at Harsa, the Second Fleet would attack out of the Viper Nebula. If the attack came against the Second Fleet, thought to be far more likely by batarian planners, the First Fleet would attack instead. If the Third Fleet was attacked at either of its minor relays, both the First and Second Fleets would attack.

The objective of the offensives would be the Exodus Cluster; Terra Nova and Eden Prime specifically. The cluster would be cut off from the rest of the galaxy, and used as a jumping off point to bombard colonies in surrounding clusters to encourage the Alliance to retreat. Ambushes would be laid at relays en route to colonies under siege, and the remaining human navy assets reduced. At this point, Admiral Ar'dra anticipated intervention by the Citadel, but continued the plan's general push to end at Sol itself.

If it had not been for the ingenuity of humanity, these plans very well could have seen some level of implementation. Their callousness is equalled by Alliance plans to counter such plans, but the ruthlessness and cunning displayed by Admiral Ar'dra is still striking today. Without the Tower Bridge project, it is quite possible that Khar'shan would have been nothing but an irradiated wasteland when the Reapers arrived less than ten years later. It is also possible that humanity would have been a mere husk of itself, or worse, at total war with the Citadel due to its genocidal response. Regardless of the what-ifs, the plan was totally inadequate to deal with an Alliance bypass of the Kite's Nest's fixed defences, and contributed heavily to the batarian's defeat.


	40. THE KITE'S NEST: The Commanders

THE COMMANDERS

**_Admiral Steven Hackett_**_, Commanding Officer, Battlefleet Trafalgar, Alliance Navy_

Most prominently remembered for his role in leading the Alliance Navy during the Eden Prime War, the Collector Crisis and the Reaper War, Steven Hackett's place in history is undoubtedly as secure as that of Jane Shepard, David Anderson or Cassandra DeRuyter. His remarkable rise from enlisted crewman to Supreme Admiral is a testament to both his military skill and his political prowess, negotiating combat and public relations challenges with equal coolness of spirit. Much like Field Marshal DeRuyter, Hackett fought every enemy of humanity to have ever presented themselves, from lowly pirates through the batarians, turians, geth, Collectors, Cerberus and the Reapers themselves. His role in maintaining discipline during the confrontations with other Citadel species' in 2184 and 2185 built his reputation among the greater galaxy as a peacemaker and unifier, but in the second half of 2178, it was his audacity in battle that was to form the foundation of all of his later career.

Born in Buenos Aires, in the South American Federation in 2134, Hackett's formative years were dominated by the Cold War, a set of conflicts that raged from 2139 to 2145 provoked by changes in Earth's climate. The war is most remembered by the galaxy at large as a conflict between the European Union and the Pan-Asian Coalition, but the war was no less fierce in the Americas, as the United States and Mexico faced off against SAF and Brazil. Hackett's own father was an enlisted man in the Argentine Army, and fought on the Venezuelan Front against US Titan forces. The war came to a swift and unexpected end once the European Union discovered the mass effect, accidentally stumbling into Prothean ruins during the Martian Offensive of 2144. The Pan-Asian Coalition surrendered on November 11th, and the next day, the EU joined the war on the American-Mexican side. Brazil surrendered on Christmas Eve, and the SAF followed suit on Boxing Day 2145.

Almost twelve years old when the Cold War ended, the impact of the lost war on the young Hackett was great, and reinforced by the death of his mother less than a year later. His father, still serving in the Argentine military, could not look after him and arranged for him to attend the Advanced Training Academy for Juveniles. Hackett excelled in the academy, and enlisted with the newly formed Alliance Navy in 2152, to follow his father's footsteps and help humanity avoid his homeland's great mistakes. Four years later, on the eve of First Contact, Hackett was promoted to bridge lieutenant. He would serve on the SSV Perseus, Admiral Drescher's flagship, during the counterattack at Shanxi.

After First Contact, Hackett rose through the ranks, making Captain by the time of the Alliance's admission to the Citadel as a recognised species, and Group-Captain by the time of the batarian attack on Mindoir. Like many officers of similar rank, He was promoted quickly in the aftermath of that great defeat, as the old guard who had dared to threaten a coup were cleared out. He ascended to the rank of Admiral in 2175, commanding the Fifth Fleet.

The Fifth Fleet participated in the Battle of Elysium under the overall command of Admiral Ches Giap, with Hackett briefly taking command of efforts over the planet during the pursuit of the batarian navy. The blitz campaign immediately afterwards pushed the Hegemony all the way back to the Kite's Nest itself, and the next two years saw Hackett and the Fifth Fleet stationed along the front against possible counterattacks, with only occasional action as required in the Yuki Cluster. Hackett found this state of affairs deeply unsatisfactory, and politely requested every month for his fleet to be allowed to join the Second Fleet in its 'March Around the Core' with DeRuyter's Army forces. These requests were repeatedly denied out of fear of weakening the line, but they were noted by the Consuls and the Chief of Staff for the Navy.

Hackett was selected to lead the fleets to bypass the Kite's Nest defences via Tower Bridge, his thirst for action and his quiet-yet-determined demeanour winning him much political support. He was placed in overall command of Battlefleet Trafalgar, consisting of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth fleets, as well as the entire Deterrence Fleet. He immediately requested changes in the ship rosters for the battle, to account for the role that Battlefleet Trafalgar was expected to play. These changes would play a crucial part in the victory to come, and the human conception of naval warfare as understood by Hackett was to be entirely vindicated in the course of the action.

**_Admiral Petra Hunt_**_, Commanding Officer, Battlefleet Tsushima, Alliance Navy_

Covered in glory as a result of Anhur and the 'March Around the Core', Petra Hunt was the ideal candidate to lead the fleets that were supposed to provide the killing blow to the Hegemony's vaunted Verge Wall. With Field Marshal DeRuyter, he had utterly crushed those forces in the Traverse and the Terminus that had aligned themselves with the Hegemony. His reputation was sterling, and his relationship with the Army excellent. It was expected that the bulk of the glory for the coming battle would go to him, assuming success was to be the outcome of the offensive. Hunt knew that this was his chance to write his name on the tablet of history, and seal the batarians forever in a tomb of defeat.

However, it was not to be. The battle would be won, but the final objective would not be achieved. Khar'shan would remain untouched during the battle, it would not be opened up for assault by the vengeful Alliance legions. Hunt would still play a significant role in destroying the batarians' ability to fight in space, but the intervention of other forces meant that his part as the follow-through to Hackett's surprise attack would not come to pass.

**_Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Belmont_**_, US Delta Force, First Legion, Alliance Army_

The only major Army figure of any significance in the battle to come, Alexander Belmont is widely considered to have preserved the honour of that part of the services. That the invasion of Khar'shan itself did not happen in the aftermath of the great naval victory was extremely galling to the Army's High Command.

Belmont was born in 2140, in Presque Isle, Maine, in the United States. He had ordinary parents of French-colonial origins, two younger siblings, all of whom were bilingual in both English and French. His father was a drone technician for the US Geographical Survey, and his mother was a teacher. Too young to remember the Cold War, he grew up in a new era of peace between the nations of Earth, as human effort was put into exploration and colonisation of new worlds, courtesy of the new technologies discovered on Mars. The glaciers that had devastated his homeworld's northern hemisphere stopped a mere two hundred yards from his front porch, and a wall of ice looming near his house was one of his earliest memories. He had an ordinary but graced civilian life, playing American football and getting better-than-decent grades in school.

He was in high school when the First Contact War broke out, and everything changed. On Shanxi, the Battle of Xi'an Valley hit everyone in Presque Isle, Maine hard. Six enlisted personnel from the town in the United States Colonial Marine Expeditionary Force died in their final stand against a determined turian attack. They were not much older than Belmont himself at the time, and for years afterwards, Mainers held a deep grudge against turians for the loss.

This was the trigger for Belmont's enlistment in the US military in 2158, although he was to join the Army rather than the Marines on the insistence of his mother. His physicality and intelligence saw him recruited into Delta Force in 2161 at the rank of corporal. His leadership was considered and analytical, but he inspired great loyalty in his troops through care for their well-being. A tall man with bright blue eyes and brown-blonde hair, he looked the part of a leader as well.

By 2165, when Earth's national military units were amalgamated into the Alliance Army Legion System, he was a first lieutenant with significant combat experience in special operations against batarian and Terminus mercenaries, both within and beyond Citadel space. In the same year, he was put forward as a candidate for the Citadel's Office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, but was passed over in favour of David Anderson due to age and the Council's preference for a candidate with naval as well as ground combat experience. The failure of Anderson on Sidon and the delaying of humanity's first Spectre appointment by nearly twenty years was something Belmont always believed he could have avoided.

Delta Force saw no action in the First Verge War, their first mission against Khar'lilitam cancelled as Citadel forces intervened to stop the conflict. Belmont would have to wait until the Second Verge War. During the course of the conflict, he rose to lieutenant-colonel, fighting primarily with Troop Command Columbia in the Yuki Cluster. He commanded the unit sent to investigate the aftermath of humanity's first encounter with thresher maws on Akuze in 2177, finding evidence of false signals.

When it became apparent that the completion of Tower Bridge would require the storming of the outermost batarian outpost, a station located on a harsh iceworld in a star system on the very edge of the Kite's Nest, Belmont was considered first for the job. The raw aggression of the likes of a Shepard was not what was required, and Belmont was considered the coolest special forces operator of sufficient rank to carry out the task. As it turned out, his role was to be even more vital than even the most pessimistic planners had envisaged, as the batarians had made significant changes to the outpost in the years since the beginning of the war. Once again, humanity's best would clash with the batarians' own.

* * *

**_Admiral Dhark Ar'dra_**_, Supreme Commander, Batarian Hegemonic Combined Forces_

Shielded from blame for the defeat at Elysium largely due to Elanos Haliat's prominent role in planning and commanding that attack, Dhark Ar'dra was placed in military command of all regular batarian forces in 2177. He inherited no shortage of problems. While the colonial militias and the special forces remained under their own commanders, the Admiral was made responsible for the regular army and all naval assets. Both of the latter had been seriously degraded during the Alliance counterblitz. The Batarian First Fleet had seen huge losses at the hands of the humans, and the fall of the Batarian Army's main staging point on Dar'lokhan meant that most of the experienced soldiers of the Hegemony were already dead or captured. Both formations needed reconstruction badly, but the resources available were largely insufficient. Both Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra and Admiral Ar'dra knew that to try and rebuild both the Army and the Navy would be pointless.

The Navy was given priority, and Dhark Ar'dra oversaw the new works personally. Contrary to popular opinion, he was not blind to new naval developments, despite the class of ships he prioritised in construction. To replace the dreadnoughts and cruisers lost at Elysium, the Admiral ordered the newest and most powerful designs built at the drydocks over Khar'shan itself. The Fang of Khar'shan-class dreadnought saw a six ship production run, with the notable exception of greater broadside firepower to deal with the frigates that had destroyed the namesake ship. The Hensa-class Heavy cruisers lost were replaced, and all such ships upgraded to better suit what the batarians thought the new naval paradigm had become. Turret-mounted torpedo launchers and yet more fighter-carrying capability were added to many regular cruisers, as the anticipation of a massed fleet action shaped all considerations.

The Admiral's outlook was inherently offensive, and he drilled all three of his fleets for assaults on the Alliance and relay containment operations. He did not conceive of any scenario whereby the humans would be free to range at will throughout the home cluster of his own species. Tower Bridge was not the only means such a situation could have been achieved by the Alliance, however unlikely it might have been that the Verge Wall could have been breached, and the Hegemony would pay very dearly for the oversight.


	41. THE KITE'S NEST: The Opposing Forces

THE OPPOSING FORCES

**_Combined Battle Fleet Trafalgar_**

The seven fleets to be engaged in combat during the Battle for the Kite's Nest were named for famous ocean battles on Earth. Combined Battle Fleet Trafalgar was named for the unorthodox tactic used by the victorious British during that fight, whereby their ships broke the opposing French-Spanish line instead of duelling it out in the more traditional line versus line manner. This was a metaphor for the role to be played by the fleets themselves; Trafalgar would use Tower Bridge to bypass the Verge Wall and get amongst the batarian arrangements.

The forces under the command of Admiral Hackett consisted of four combat fleets; the Fifth Fleet, the Sixth Fleet, the Seventh Fleet and the Eighth Fleet. This force alone dwarfed that which had been sent to Elysium to spring the trap that crippled the Hegemony's First Fleet, and by 2178, was equal to two of the batarians' three fleets. In addition to the regular combat groups, the three WMD groups of the Deterrence Fleet were also deployed as part of Trafalgar, although their role was not to fight the batarian navy directly. Not since the Krogan Rebellions had a concentration of firepower of this scale been seen in the galaxy. The nuclear arsenal available to the deterrence forces alone could have scorched a hundred worlds' surfaces to ash. Alliance planners believed that every kiloton would be required in order to clear the space stations guarding the Viper Nebula relay, based on quite good estimates of batarian pre-war industrial capacity and information fed to the DID from spies before the FTL comm-buoys in the Yuki Cluster were destroyed.

The order of battle of the fleets was to be greatly altered for operations. Unlike every other species in the galaxy, humanity believed that the role of the traditional dreadnought was coming to an end. The turians, whose model was widely adopted as a paradigm, believed that the dreadnought was the real force of any fleet. This idea had shifted somewhat due to humanity's introduction of the carrier, but the turians saw the new class of ship as the dreadnought's equal, not its superior. The naval doctrines of the Hierarchy, the Asari Republics, the Salarian Union, the small elcor navy and the Batarian Hegemony all continued to place great faith on the sheer firepower of the dreadnought. Admiral Hackett and Admiral Hunt were both well aware of this, and determined to undo such ideas with a practical demonstration of the superiority of the carrier-borne fighter-bomber.

One carrier group each from the First, Second, Third and Fourth Fleets was replaced by one of the patrol groups from Battle Fleet Trafalgar. In effect, this meant that 75% of the Alliance's carrier strength both in escort carriers and fleet carriers was assigned to Hackett's command. This was easily justified by the huge battlespace available; no less than seven star systems would be contested. No dreadnought could project power over such vast distances, but carrier forces could. Similarly, carriers were mostly useless for forcing relay passages, whereas the dreadnought's huge broadside and forward firepower made them ideal for attacking the Viper Nebula relay jumpzone. As a result, all but one of Trafalgar's dreadnoughts was assigned to its opposite number, Battle Fleet Tsushima. Meanwhile, all five of the new Niké-class fleet carriers were assigned to Trafalgar.

In total, Trafalgar would consist of a little more than two thousand five hundred vessels, of which one thousand eight hundred were combat vessels; Sixteen fleet carriers, one dreadnought, four hundred escort carriers, seven hundred and eighty cruisers and heavy cruisers, six hundred frigates, one hundred deterrence frigates, and six hundred support and transport vessels.

**_Combined Battle Fleet Tsushima_**

The fleets that would force their way through to the Viper Nebula once the defences of that relay jump zone had been fatally compromised by the Deterrence Fleet's attack was named for the battle of Tsushima, where the Imperial Japanese Navy successfully 'crossed the T' against the Russian Navy in a textbook manoeuvre. As such, it was to act in a much more conventional manner from the perspective of the Citadel navies, using its dreadnoughts, cruisers and frigates in massed formations against concentrations of the enemy. The chaos sown by Hackett's fleets were to be exploited by Hunt's own attack groups, presenting themselves at the perfect moments to obliterate the remaining batarian ships.

Tsushima consisted of the Second, Third and Fourth Fleets of the Alliance Navy, although it too had been augmented by the dreadnoughts and carriers of the First Fleet. As such, it contained one thousand eight hundred ships; six dreadnoughts, five fleet carriers, one hundred and twenty five escort carriers, eight hundred and forty cruisers and heavy cruisers, four hundred frigates, and five hundred support and transport vessels.

**_US Delta Force, First Legion, Alliance Army_**

The exact composition of the Delta Force teams sent to eliminate the batarian outpost remains classified, as is the case with most major First Legion operations. It is estimated that two platoons of sixty soldiers were sent, based on the number of bombers used to deploy them and casualties sustained. Lieutenant-Colonel Belmont's task was simple; to capture the facility's shuttles and comms intact. The Alliance had no way of knowing if the Hegemony had a similar protocol relating to its outposts as they had; if an Alliance outpost or colony goes dark, a combat group or fleet is dispatched to investigate. The completion of Tower Bridge relied entirely on the secrecy of its existence, and it was the job of Delta Force to eliminate the most dire threat to that secrecy.

* * *

**_Batarian Hegemonic Navy_**

The batarian fleets had not been fully rebuilt by the time of the Battle of the Kite's Nest. The losses of Elysium combined with those of the blitz campaign, during which the general order from the Arch-Hegemon had been to stand and fight at all costs, meant that the entire Batarian Navy could call on just three thousand seven hundred and twenty ships. While a larger proportion of these were combat vessels, compared with the ratio of the opposing Alliance fleets, this left the Hegemony very much outnumbered.

During 2177 and the first half of 2178, Admiral Ar'dra had concentrated on increasing the capabilities of his existing ships. This was done for two reasons. The requirement to reinforce the Verge Wall with enough stations to make assaults near-suicidal was of paramount importance to the war effort. The batarians could tie up human efforts to breach it for decades, perhaps even permanently, if they could only point enough mass-accelerators at the relay jumpzones. Naturally, this tied up many resources that would have otherwise been used for ships. The second reason is related to the first, in that it answers the question of why Ar'dra did not simply build ships instead; Personnel shortages.

Unlike the Batarian Army, which could conscript swaths of the serf caste as required and used massed assaults, the Batarian Navy valued quality and could not operate as a conscript force to begin with. Space warfare was simply too complex and too technical to replace the crew losses of 2176 with any ease. By 2178, some of these losses had been ameliorated, but most of the replacements had no combat experience. Cruisers were brought back up to strength in numbers, but frigate production was halted entirely, batarian designs being vastly inferior to Alliance ones.

The dreadnought programme was the exception, and it was perhaps the most ambitious ship-building programme until the end of the Eden Prime War. Six new superdreadnoughts based on the Fang of Khar'shan were constructed, designed to fight frigates at the broadside and the Alliance's Thor-class dreadnought from range. Despite these developments, the Batarian Navy is considered by most historians to have never stood a chance. It was very well suited to its planned role; containment and counterattack. It was not well suited to fight long-range battles within a cluster against greater numbers and a better doctrine of spatial warfare.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Plenty of reviewers seem to be enjoying the human-centric aspect of this story, as opposed to the supposedly less HFW storyline of Battlefield 2183. Not sure I agree with that, given that the Alliance stands up for itself very well in that story, not giving too much of a shit about the Citadel's opinion of the war against the geth. Most complaints otherwise seem to regard the Shepard-Liara relationship as an indicator that Shepard is less than a full-blooded warrior for humanity. Definitely don't agree with that, and I'll address that in BF2183 itself._

_I guess people are too used to curbstomps and hating on aliens. The batarians are a much easier opponent to portray in this way, as they started off about the same strength as humanity and they're slavers regardless. It's always a feel-good moment when shit happens to them._


	42. THE KITE'S NEST: The Weapons

THE WEAPONS

_The Systems Alliance_

The human fleets had no shortage of fine weapons of war, many of which were already battle tested and upgraded by the time of the Battle of the Kite's Nest. The Agincourt-class frigate and the A-62 Strategic Bomber would make significant contributions to the victory to come, both using the Mark 7 Disruptor Torpedo to full effect against a great range of targets. The new El-Alemein class would also fight in the battle in relatively small numbers, having only just been commissioned nine months previously as a frigate with stealth characteristics. The Thermopylae class deterrence frigate would play a notable role in the opening of the battle, but did not play the decisive part. The New York class cruisers, making up the bulk of Alliance cruiser strength, continued in their traditional role with great efficacy.

However, the contributions of other designs and those using them were at least the equal of these, and deserve greater mention. Together, these weapons would make up the most powerful fleet ever assembled by humanity until the Battle of Tikkun in 2183. Admiral Hackett and Admiral Hunt would have no shortage of firepower to throw at the Hegemony in the days to come.

**_Niké-class Fleet Carrier_**

In 2176, the Niké-class was the largest and most powerful class of vessel in service with any Citadel species except for the singular example of the Destiny Ascension-class superdreadnought, and it was the only class of its size of which there were multiple ships in service. Designed to rise to the challenges its predecessors had found difficult, it was the first complete product of human-quarian technical cooperation that had begun in the aftermath of the First Verge War. Unlike most Alliance designs, its huge size meant that it could not be built with existing modular construction techniques in mind. The costs of construction were proportionally higher than most human vessels, and so the Niké was and remains the only capital ship in service with civilian subclasses for commercial and colonial use. Built at the Luna Shipyards, both military and civilian versions were put together side-by-side. The Niké is used by the Systems Alliance and later the Quarian Navy, while its civilian subclasses, the Nile class and the Aphrodite class, are used by corporations and NGOs based in the jurisdictions of every major species.

Each ship is over two kilometres long and carries a crew of two thousand five hundred service personnel. This space and crew complement are the backbone for a truly awesome arsenal of weapons. In 2178, these included twenty-four torpedo tubes in the forward head of the ship, thirty six cruiser-grade mass-accelerators mounted broadside along the hull in turrets, thirty-four dual-barrel GARDIAN point defence lasers, two Medusa space-to-ground 'EMP' projectors, six missile tubes, two hundred fighters, fifty utility craft or tactical bombers, and eighty aircraft launchers. The defences are equally as formidable, consisting of triple overlapping kinetic barriers, ultra-dense and ablative armours, heat decoys, ECM and ECCM, as well as damage-control drones for internal and external automatic repairs. Furthermore, as it was expected to fight at extended distances from interior lines of supply, it is capable of manufacturing spare parts and ammunition on a limited scale from raw resources provided by support vessels.

The class had performed admirably in the course of the war. At Elysium, the SSV Morrigan had flown as part of Combined Battle Fleet Hiryu, where her squadrons, torpedoes and batteries all made their contributions to the victory. All five ships that had been commissioned by 2176 saw action in the blitz across the Verge, their squadrons destroying a number of batarian combat groups. At Anhur and during the 'March Around the Core', the SSV Victoria was Admiral Petra Hunt's flagship, fighting in a more than dozen fleet engagements against Terminus flotillas and operating far from Alliance space. Another six Niké-class ships were scheduled for completion by the end of 2178, but Tower Bridge was complete before these would be combat-ready, so only the original five would fight.

The Kite's Nest was to be where the reputation of the class was settled once and for all. After the Second Verge War, the design would be continually improved, eventually becoming the even more powerful Athena-subclass to which all Niké vessels would be upgraded by 2183. Forty of the fifty ships built of the civilian subclasses would be expropriated by the Alliance Navy in 2184 during the Third Verge War, in anticipation of the greater conflicts to come.

The ships of this class that fought in the Kite's Nest were Niké, Victoria, Morrigan, Valkyria, and Bellona.

**_Macha-class Fleet Carrier_**

Commissioned in time for the Systems Alliance's full recognition by the Citadel in 2165, the Macha was the first human capital ship of the post First Contact War era, and the first to take advantage of increasingly superior human understanding of mass effect physics. It was as much a political statement as a weapon of war; humanity had won its place through the introduction of carriers as the primary focus of navies, and the Macha-class dwarfed most dreadnought classes in size and firepower. Its service through the beginnings of the Verge conflict and the First Verge War was exemplary, but the wave of innovation that humanity had unleashed by her arrival had not stopped. The destruction of the SSV Amaterasu was the wake up call for the Alliance Navy, and by 2178, it was in the midst of being replaced by the far superior Niké-class.

At just over one thousand five hundred metres in length, the Macha was still the third largest ship class in service among any species in the galaxy in 2178. With a crew complement of one thousand seven hundred, the ship mounts twenty torpedo launchers in the bow, twenty cruiser-grade mass-accelerators in turrets along the hull, twenty dual-barrel GARDIAN laser batteries, two Medusa 'EMP' projectors, one hundred and fifty fighters, twenty utility craft or tactical bombers, and forty fighter launchers. This arrangement placed the Macha well above average for both ship firepower and fighter complement. The next largest carrier, the asari Armali-class drone carrier, was a distant second in all categories save for number of GARDIAN batteries. The Macha had all the same defences as the Niké-class, save for an older dual-overlapping kinetic barrier design, but it was its deficiencies in point defence would cost the Alliance dearly.

Batarian use of kamikaze tactics with their fighter aircraft had scored hits on human vessels before, usually in desperation but most notably as a thought-out tactic during the pre-war attack on the SSV Amaterasu. The Kite's Nest would see massed 'alpha-strike' attacks by batarian squadrons against Alliance fleet carriers, either as suicide runs or with deliberate intent to use the fighters themselves as torpedoes. While the Niké-class would prove absolutely impervious to such assaults, the Macha-class was to suffer. As a known problem, measures were taken against the weakness and as a result, many lives would be saved, and no ships would be lost.

By 2183, the end of the class' service looked imminent. Most Macha-class ships were transferred to the Alliance Merchant Marine, for use as colonial support and relief ships. Their names and battle honours were transferred to new Niké commissions. However, by the end of the Eden Prime War, humanity had been awakened to the existential threat of the Reapers. All twenty-one Macha-class carriers would be returned to Alliance service in 2184, refitted as hybrid guided missile carriers using QEC technology recovered from Sovereign to make up the new Artemis and Apollo classes.

The ships of this class that would fight in the Kite's Nest were Macha, Minerva, Amaterasu II, Pahket, Otrera, Athena, Nemain, Pele, Kali, Ishtar, Freya, Astarte, Andarta, Oya, Menhit, and Neith.

**_Belfast-class Heavy Cruiser/Escort Carrier_**

Yet another child of quarian and human technological cooperation, the Belfast-class was designed to do two things. The first was to provide a hull configuration that could be used as an escort carrier, planetary assault cruiser or combat cruiser. The second was to outperform the very capable batarian Hensa-class heavy cruiser in every respect. It would succeed in both regards, thanks to humanity's love for modular construction. First commissioned in 2175, it was to augment but not replace the venerable and reliable New York-class cruisers that had proved themselves time and again. Fully half the production run would be complete by the time of Elysium.

All Belfast-class cruisers are seven hundred and seven metres in length, though crew complement varied according to need. Like the New York, the ship consisted of an engineering section, triple spinal mass-accelerators, crew quarters, and bridge, all of which is attached to a central structure. Several different kinds of section are then mounted over this, using common and prefabricated parts. On combat cruisers, the sections mount varying numbers of broadside mass-accelerators. Planetary assault cruisers use turreted torpedo launchers and large cargo bays, to allow for maximum space for titans and shuttles. Escort carrier variants have flight pods, fighter hangers and extra point defences, carrying sixty-five to eighty fighters and a pair of utility craft or tactical bombers. All types mount at least eight GARDIAN batteries, rising to as many as fourteen on the largest escort carrier type. Defences consisted of triple overlapping kinetic barriers, ECM and ECCM, and heat decoy launchers.

Although the heavy cruiser and planetary assault variants would be heavily engaged during the battle, it was to be the escort carriers that scored the most hits on batarian vessels during the course of the fighting. Joining with the fighter squadrons of the Niké-class and Macha-class vessels, they would carry the bulk of the Alliance Navy's fighters into the battle.

**_F-61 Trident Strike Fighter_**

Called 'Old Reliable' among fighter jocks and naval theorists, the Trident Strike Fighter entered in 2161 to replace the pre-First Contact fighter and fighter-bomber designs used by the Alliance until that point. By 2166, it had replaced all other designs both with the Alliance Navy and the Alliance Army Airforces. It was not an innovative piece of machinery, and heavily borrowed from existing asari designs in terms of its hull structure and engine layout. It fought throughout the Verge Conflict, and would go on to serve through the Eden Prime War, the Collector Crisis, the Reaper War, right into the post-Reaper era. Designs for its replacement are being considered at present, but it is likely that the Trident will continue in service for decades to come due to resource prioritisation.

The fighter is a quad-engine, tri-hull, carrier-capable multirole combat spacecraft, capable of effective use in atmosphere and in vacuum, though it is in the latter which it is best utilised. Carrying either one or two crew members depending on the variant, the fighter mounts three EXALT torpedo launchers, dual mass-accelerators for interception duties, and either space-to-space missiles or a single GARDIAN laser. After the Eden Prime War, two of the torpedo launchers would be replaced on many examples with Thanix cannons, especially after the resolution of the Collector Crisis. The fighter's FTL core was the match of any other design's own, and it had enough range to make independent attack and reconnaissance missions even across relays if required, though it is and was rare for fighters to do so without support from larger vessels. For defence, it had ECM and ECCM, heat decoy launchers, and engine heat shrouds.

The Tridents deployed from the fleet and escort carriers were to cause about seventy percent of all ship combat losses to the batarians during the battle. Squadron casualty rates would be low, mostly due to the superior range of Alliance torpedoes, but also because of the combat doctrines instilled in every Wing Commander and the attitude of the batarians.

* * *

_The Batarian Hegemony_

The Batarian Hegemonic Navy brought only one new weapon of war to the fight for their home cluster, the Eyes of Khar'shan dreadnought subclass, derived from the Fang of Khar'shan class. As dreadnoughts go, the ship was an extremely impressive feat of engineering, easily matching the Alliance's Thor-class or the two more modern turian designs then in service. It was not based on any new technology, it did not incorporate any great leap forward in engineering terms, and the manner in which the ships were to be used remained completely obsolete for the sort of battle that was to come. Five such vessels would see action in the Kite's Nest; the Eyes, the Jaw, the Fist, the Glory, and the Revenge of Khar'shan. All five would be rendered essentially irrelevant once combat began due to the strategy of Admiral Hackett and the huge distances over which the battle would be fought.

The same can be said for the Hensa-class Heavy Cruisers that made up the backbone of the batarian fleets. The batarians had a small number of escort carriers based on the Hensa's hull configuration, but this was more of a paper classification than an actual attempt at creating a batarian carrier group. The Hensa did carry up to thirty fighters each, which combined with fighters launching from Khar'shan and the orbital defence stations, provided more than enough attack strength to take the fight to the Alliance. However, use of these assets in the correct manner was hampered, both by doctrine and technological barriers. Batarian torpedo technology, derived from older human EXALT designs, was not as advanced. No attempts to raise the rangeof batarian torpedoes were made, the batarian philosophy instead relying on massed attacks by fighters to overwhelm defences rather than trying to penetrate them.

The batarians had no less than five fighter designs in service in 2178, the oldest being nearly ninety years old and the newest having been introduced only just prior to the start of the Second Verge War. While they were all strongly derived from each other and shared many parts, this meant that the batarians had a much more variable set of performances from their squadrons. A squadron issued with the oldest design could not be expected to carry out the same 'bleeding-edge' mission as a squadron with the newest. The batarians were well aware of this problem, and had intended to replace all fighters with the newest design, the Ba-88. The Alliance blitz campaign after the defeat at Elysium captured the manufacturing facilities for batarian fighters on Dar'lokhan, and so every spare fighter was to be pressed into service. Manufacturing did resume on Khar'shan itself in 2177, but at a much reduced pace.

Overall, the Alliance had huge advantages over the Batarian Hegemony in weaponry by the time of the Battle of the Kite's Nest, both technologically and in doctrinal terms. This would be shown to devastating effect in due course, to the point that the greater powers of galactic politics would take immediate, terrified notice.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, the Niké and Macha are basically battlestars. Given how space fights must play out in the Mass Effect universe due to the physics and available technology, the 'battlestar' concept makes a whole lot of sense. There are hints of a new paradigm post-Eden Prime in here, that I hope you find enticing._

_The next chapter published by me will be a huge BF2183 one. I appreciate all your commentary on my previous note._

_It looks increasingly likely that I will not finish 2183 before the end of this chapter, so the next one will be the First Contact War._


	43. THE KITE'S NEST: The Battle I

THE EVE OF BATTLE

On July 3rd 2178, humanity set out to do what it had never done before; conquer another species' home cluster and bring the homeworld of that species to heel. Battlefleet Trafalgar began setting out on its two month journey to the Kite's Nest. In attempting it, the Alliance joined a very small club indeed. The krogan were the only species until that point to have successfully laid waste to the homeworld of another sentient species, namely that of the rachni. The krogan themselves were also conquered, albeit by the use of biological weapons that removed their most powerful weapon; the wombs of their mothers, and so the turians can claim membership of this most exclusive group. The turians had attempted to do the same to humanity during the First Contact War, but were stopped in their tracks.

The Consuls and their cabinet were there to see the ships off at the first station of Tower Bridge at Tango Urilla, four lightyears from the relay in the Utopia System. By that point, the Citadel Council and the three superpowers were aware of the project. To the surprise of even Nozomi Taro herself, they not only elected to allow the project to go forward but actively suppressed any attempt to leak the information. The Alliance attack was to be a grand military experiment for the entire galaxy, as well as a moment of existential validation. STG experts, not aware of modifications and tweaks for long range FTL travel being made extensively throughout Battlefleet Trafalgar, estimated as much as forty percent of the ships making the trip would not arrive at the other end. The Citadel's estimation of the effectiveness of the attack was thus revised downwards sharply, an assessment that the Alliance High Command became aware of.

But it was becoming impossible to hide the size of the manoeuvres being undertaken. Formally, the Consuls and their war cabinet were present to give the impression they were there to begin a war game, based in star clusters at the edge of known space as practice for the inevitable battle to storm the relays.

It was an important piece of theatre, and one that the galactic media bought wholesale. The invasion of Torfan had occurred less than a month before, and the controversy over the actions of Major Jonathan Kyle and Lieutenant-Commander Jane Shepard continued to rage. This was deliberately stoked by the Alliance government to cover up the preparations for the attack on the Hegemony, and the 'fleet exercises' at Tango Urilla were framed as a distraction by 'insiders' in a perfectly choreographed grey propaganda campaign by the Defence Intelligence Directorate. The exercises were dismissed as a farce by a government on the ropes due to lack of progress in the war and atrocities committed in the name of victory. Exactly what the government wanted to hear. The tune would be different in two months time.

Consul Taro was also present to do all she could towards the success of the operation. She was not a military minded person, but she understood the art of motivation, perhaps better than any living human. In particular, there was one person she wished to motivate above all others, upon whose shoulders she had placed a terrible burden.

Lieutenant-Colonel Belmont was summoned to the presence of Taro and Minister Bankole. According to the latter, she bade the soldier to sit while she remained standing. She presented him with her personal standard depicting the Siberian Tiger, with teeth bared and clawed paw ready to strike. She informed him of the full importance of his mission; the batarian outpost that he was to assault was not only the outermost point of the Hegemony's exploration, but that its silence was absolutely crucial to the success of the entire endeavour. Taro dropped to her knees, bowed with her head almost touching the floor, and begged Belmont to hold nothing back, to put himself and his troops entirely at the disposal of the mission, to take her tiger banner to the heart of the batarian facility and raise it above the first world in the Kite's Nest to be claimed by humanity. Belmont's response is not known, but it can be inferred from his later actions. He took the banner with him.

The Hegemony's own activities during this time are a mystery, records being lost both as a result of Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra's attempts to cover for the loss and due to destruction caused during the Great Upheaval and the Reaper War. It can be assumed that preparations for the defence and counterattack that Admiral Ar'dra and General Gadnalak were to lead continued apace. They would not be up to facing what was now coming.

* * *

THE BATTLE

**_Phase 1: Arrival_**

Battlefleet Trafalgar made its way through Tower Bridge on schedule, but not without losses. Ten percent of the fleets were put out of action temporarily due to maintenance issues associated with long range standard FTL travel, although the great majority of these were with the older tranches of the New York class cruisers. Tragedy struck when the Ceres-class resupply-recovery ship _Messia_ disintegrated violently on exiting FTL at Station Nine, about a third of the way to Hegemony space. A flaw in the bow barrier systems had let a piece of space debris, most likely a microasteroid, strike the ship as it was still at hypervelocity. The other Ceres-class vessels were retrofitted in-space to fix the error, though it hung a dark pall over the rest of the journey that was well remembered by the veterans of the campaign.

As the bulk of the fleet continued at its steady pace, the frigates carrying Lieutenant-Colonel Belmont's forces pressed forward to the front of the pack. They arrived at Station Seventeen ahead of the main force, and disembarked onto the station itself to prepare for the attack. DID operatives had been dispatched months earlier to monitor the target; the batarian 'research' outpost on Planet Y-2Y. Belmont was given the most unpleasant news almost immediately that the outpost was no longer used for research purposes, and had been turned into something far more dangerous. The Batarian External Forces had taken possession of the place as a training ground.

The news was a mixed blessing, to say the least. The outpost was no longer monitoring nearby space closely, which would mean that the fleets could begin arrive undetected, for the moment. Its status as a harsh environment training facility meant that it was unlikely that there were heavy arms or significant numbers of fully capable External Forces veterans on-hand to resist. However, the soldiers of the External Forces were chosen for their strength, cunning and ruthlessness from the very beginning, and DID signal intercepts suggested that the Delta Force unit would be heavily outnumbered. Belmont faced a choice. Recommend to Admiral Hackett that the mission be scrubbed, dismissing the reduced chance of detection entirely, or commence the operation anyway.

The Colonel chose the latter option. Any chance of detection was too great, and the opportunity for cracking the batarian extranet network was too great a prize to turn down.

Delta Force boarded Navy A-62s for drop onto Planet Y-2Y on September 7th 2178, a week before the first possible arrival of light from Station Seventeen to batarian sensors. The bombers, fitted for drop-pod duty, followed a carefully plotted path. The FTL arrival was timed so that the vehicles would be behind the planet relative to the outpost. The bombers would then dive into the atmosphere and fly as low as possible to the drop point. Once this was completed, the bombers would move off to the opposite side of the planet and land to await the success or failure of the mission. The chance of detection was too great for anything else.

The drop went smoothly, and no batarian record of the insertion of Delta Force exists. Belmont and his troops were dropped five days march from the outpost. The terrain was shaped by the harsh cold of the planet, which was going through its 'snowball Earth' period. The units made good headway. On the last day of the march, the first enemy contacts were sighted. The training period on the ice had just ended, and the External Forces candidates and their handlers were themselves marching to the outpost. Belmont's soldiers shadowed them unnoticed; no Earthling was going to be outdone on the ice, and several squads got to the outpost itself undetected while the rest waited the signal to intervene outside. Belmont personally commanded the infiltration teams, the only way to know for sure when the right moment to strike would arrive.

The batarian outpost consisted of two buildings, a former modular residency converted into a barracks and an observatory that had been modified into a command station. Between them ran two reinforced corridors, curving outwards to former walls, sheltering the landing pad in the middle of the structures from the razor-cold winds that often whipped across the ice plains. The barracks was by far larger than the command building, and certainly the place where the most resistance would be met. However, it was also not where the communications nodes were located. While batarian soldiers had access to the Hegemony extranet via the barracks, the official channels of communication were only accessible via the command building. Belmont therefore opted to seize the latter and bunker down against counterattacks from the former, allowing the majority of his force to take the entire facility from the opposite direction to that of the battle.

The first part of the plan went according to expectations, perhaps even exceeding them. The command section was occupied by a skeleton crew of a mere four batarians, all of whom were taken completely by surprise, omniblades making short work of them. The only snag was that in attacking at night, the batarian commanders and the veteran drill instructors were not present in the building too. The infiltration was so stealthy that the batarians did not even notice that their enemy was in their midst until Belmont, satisfied that he had secured his part of the compound, ordered that the Hegemony's war flag be brought down and replaced with the Consul's banner atop the large flagpole on the roof. Even then, it was thirty minutes before the batarians noticed. Probing attacks against both corridors, the exterior and via the landing pad failed to breach Belmont's perimeter. However, these were conducted by the soldier-candidates in small numbers, and didn't constitute a large enough distraction for the rest of Delta Force to join the fighting.

The batarian counterattack was far less conventional. A biotic assault on the south corridor completely overwhelmed the defences, completely suicidal biotic charges allowing the bulk of the batarian veterans to close the distance and take the fight to the command building. Meanwhile, the candidates attacked from the north corridor and the landing pad, the latter covered by heavy fire. Belmont ordered the rest of Delta Force to close in and join the battle at last, and ordered his own group to not take any chances, to buy time cheaply. Just after doing so, the External Forces reached the comms room. The batarian commander, Colonel Dr'hak, was a biotic and had seen action on both Mindoir and Elysium. Flanked by five more of the Hegemony's most capable biotics, they stormed the room. Within five minutes, three of the batarians were dead, two by Belmont's own hand, but so were the six humans. Including the Lieutenant-Colonel himself.

What happened next has been the subject of no less than seven vids and sims.

The Delta Force operators within the compound, having successfully repulsed the green batarian candidates, turned their attention to the much-diminished batarian veterans. The second-in-command was one Major Franklin, and contrary to the popular myth that what occurred was the result of a common urge among the soldiers, he ordered that the comms room be retaken and the body of Belmont recovered. A suitably Homeric struggle began as a result. The Americans successfully retook the room, but could not remove the Lieutenant-Colonel's body in time before the batarians ripped the walls off, turning the entire floor into a series of ragged firing lanes. The outer walls were soon damaged too, allowing the worst of the elements in. The fight went back and forth from that point on, the superior equipment and fighting skill of Delta Force matching the natural biotic talents of the batarians head on.

Eventually, the Delta Force platoons that had advanced from the outside cleared the barracks, capturing the majority of the candidates, and the battle turned away from the batarians' favour. The veterans refused to surrender, and were killed to a man. Aside from Belmont himself, the infiltration team suffered one hundred percent casualties. One in three was dead, and the other two thirds were put out of action 'permanently', although almost all of the survivors would later return to active service after receiving clone or augmetic parts. The batarians themselves lost half their personnel, and the facility itself.

The victory was bittersweet, and not complete. Aside from the death of Belmont and a substantial number of some of humanity's finest soldiers, a batarian conscript in service to one of the Highborn managed to get a message to his family via the extranet connections in his barracks section. The Alliance remained unaware of this until the DID operators arrived to hack the comms and begin sending spoof messages.

Admiral Hackett was confronted with the possibility that the Hegemony was aware of Tower Bridge. In reality, the DID group managed to begin sending regular status reports back to batarian high command. The family of the batarian conscript who had got the message off were lowborn, and the military authorities dismissed the warning as an attempt to get reassigned to a more hospitable posting. However, this could not have been known to Hackett, who was now forced to accelerate the plan or risk allowing the Batarian Navy to gather against his forces.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Apologies for the hiatus on all my writing, I have been in the middle of moving house from one city to another. Obvious delays are to be expected. This chapter was pretty much done before I moved. The next thing out will be an Outlander chapter, despite my promise that the next release would be BF2157.  
_

_Also, Canadian real estate and rental markets are utterly insane._


	44. THE KITE'S NEST: The Battle II

THE BATTLE CONTINUES

**_**Phase 2: Tora Tora Tora**_**

Once the batarian outpost on Planet Y-2Y had been taken, word was sent back through Tower Bridge. The news of the seizure of the outpost, the hiccup in doing so and the cost were received by the Alliance government. Consul Taro was at a loss for once. That the operation had gone smoothly was what she had hoped for. The possibility that Battlefleet Trafalgar had been discovered was not a welcome one, and she seriously considered changing her plan to announce the bypass of the batarian defences. Alexander deBankole convinced her otherwise. Regardless of whether or not the batarians had found out about Tower Bridge, it was too late now for them to do anything about it. Trafalgar possessed greatly superior forces, in theory. It was still a better outcome than having to force the relays. Besides that, the Minister argued that they had a martyr.

The greater galaxy learned of the ambitious operation and the daring mission taken to protect it the next day. Minister deBankole called a press conference, and announced that the forces of the Alliance had successfully outflanked the Verge Wall. Poised to strike at the very heart of the Hegemony, this had only been possible due to the bravery and sacrifice of Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Belmont. The Minister proclaimed Belmont's posthumous promotion to General, and described the mission for which he had died. After nearly half a year of no real news, with Torfan acting as a scrap over which media organisations had fought, the fifth estate was left utterly dumbfounded. Dumbfounded not only by the importance of the announcement itself, but at how skillfully the Alliance intelligence services had played them like a fiddle. There was an outpouring of admiration and anger both from the general public, the former from humans, asari maidens and matrons, the latter from the huge batarian population of the Terminus and the anti-human elements of the turian colonies. The Citadel's reaction was muted, officially. Behind closed doors, panicked questions were being asked about where the situation was going.

On the same day, Hackett began the second stage of operations in the Kite's Nest, his plans modified slightly to account for supposed batarian awareness of the presence of human fleets. Originally, Trafalgar was to spread out and take all inhabited systems in a single sweep, and regroup at the Harsa system itself to allow the WMD missile frigates to take out the defence stations on the relays. Now, the fleet would make the long journey to the nearest star system to Harsa almost entirely, with squadrons of planetary assault cruisers breaking off to take specific objectives. Harsa was a 'dual' system in that it had a close stellar neighbour only a half lightyear away, albeit one with only two planets, both gas giants. While useless for the batarians, they were perfect for Hackett's new plan.

Over the course of the next week, Battlefleet Trafalgar moved from the line of no return set by the Citadel against inter-regional exploration at Planet Y-2Y to Harsa's neighbour, designated Pearl in the Alliance plan. The fleet moved directly, not stopping to discharge at other systems, an action made possible only by the by-now well honed experience of the crews at such manoeuvres and the design of their ships. That isn't to say that the bypassed systems were ignored. Frigate wolfpacks and planetary assault squadrons were split off from the main force. On three minor garden worlds, Alliance cruisers dropped N5 marine divisions, seizing their capitals without much resistance after heavy but brief orbital bombardments. The defences of these worlds had been stripped to provide firepower for the Verge Wall and Khar'shan itself, but the Batarian Army and the colonial militias turned out in huge numbers to resist anyway. With major spaceports in Alliance hands, the marines played a defensive strategy and caused huge losses against the wave tactics employed to remove them.

The DID operatives back at the end of Tower Bridge successfully introduced a virus into the batarian FTL comms systems, one that looked like a more or less unintentional glitch. Ironically, batarian analysts caught immediately that it was deliberate sabotage, but thought the responsible party was a well-known cabal of mid-caste hackers opposed to the war. They had attempted downing the entire government network before and failed, and so the Hegemony thought the dissidents had gone for a more direct route instead. As a result, on September 20th 2178, Battlefleet Trafalgar reached Pearl undetected, mere hours ahead of batarian ships fleeing the orbital assaults in its wake.

Hackett wasted no time. His ships were in no state for a long fight, badly needing to discharge their drives. They entered orbit over the gas giants of Pearl to see to this, a truly precarious situation should the batarians discover them and move to attack. However, the fighters on the flight decks of the Alliance carriers and the pilots ready to fly them were entirely ready for action. This was Hackett's gambit. While his ships made themselves ready again, he would launch a huge attack on the Batarian Hegemonic Navy at their primary fleet base over Verush. It was to be an absolutely overwhelming attack. Sixteen thousand fighters and bombers were sent. Nearly two thirds of all Alliance attack pilots in Battlefleet Trafalgar were committed, the maximum number possible while leaving sufficient numbers to cover the fleet. The five attack groups were arranged according to the lead Niké-class carrier coordinating their assaults, and were named as such.

The fighters arrived in Harsa over Verush a mere half hour after the news of the attacks on the outer worlds of the cluster had. Admiral Ar'dra had arrived at the fleet base a mere five minutes before, as the Arch-Hegemon considered placing Khar'shan on full invasion defence alert. There was still a degree of disbelief that the Alliance had managed to get so close, but the reports and coincidental technical failures could no longer be ignored. The drive cores of the First Fleet's dreadnoughts were warmed up, along with the alert squadrons' own. The crews of the remaining ships were on leave. The space around Verush is a web of hundreds small moons and captured asteroids. It would have been very difficult to launch an attack against the fleet base for large vessels, but it was extremely advantageous for small fighters. The Tridents and A62s were able to drop out of FTL behind the moons, skim just above the surface to avoid easy tracking, and turn directly onto their attack vectors.

The first assault was utterly devastating, particularly as the Alliance pilots were trained to use their torpedoes just outside batarian GARDIAN range, increasing the chance that the weapons would impact while eliminating the possibility that the fighters themselves would be shot down.

Priority targets were dreadnoughts and the fleet base station itself. Group Niké successfully destroyed the three obsolete dreadnoughts anchored at the end of the main structure. Group Morrigan destroyed the _Eye of Khar'shan_ and the _Revenge of Khar'shan_ superdreadnoughts along with their moorings and the combined cruiser-frigate group docked alongside them. Group Victoria destroyed the _Glory of Khar'shan_ and most of its accompanying squadrons, trapping Admiral Ar'dra on board in a sealed compartment and cutting him off from taking immediate command of the battle, but failed to destroy or even damage the _Jaw of Khar'shan_. Groups Valkyria and Bellona chalked up hundreds of cruiser hits, and managed to sever the long superstructure of the fleet base into two pieces near a secondary fuel dump. Alliance losses were minimal, limited to a half-dozen A62s that had strayed too close to a GARDIAN battery on the largest orbiting body. Batarian losses are hard to tally, but definitely stray into the five hundred mark in terms of ships put out of action, although many were not destroyed to the extent that they could not be salvaged later, save for the dreadnoughts.

However, by the time the fighters returned to Pearl, Battlefleet Trafalgar was still not ready. The cruisers, escort carriers and capital ships were still in the process of discharging their drives. Without the assistance of specialised stations like those that Tower Bridge had possessed, the process of dispersing the built up energy took longer. However, the frigates were now ready to fight. Rather than risk a full fleet engagement, Hackett ordered a second attack on Harsa, this time with a combination of fighter-bomber squadrons and frigate wolfpacks. The number of fighters committed was greatly reduced, down to six thousand, to allow the battlefleet to counterattack if the second wave failed. Unable to see a better opportunity arising any time soon, the Admiral also deployed the missile frigates, to clear the way for Battlefleet Tsushima to join the fight from the Verge.

The batarians were not idle either. Admiral Ar'dra was rescued from the wreck of the _Glory of Khar'shan_ and made the _Fist of Khar'shan_ his new flagship. With debris and ships moving without orders causing utter chaos around the heavily damaged fleet base, he issued a general order for all First Fleet vessels to rally over Khar'shan itself and ordered the Second and Third Fleets to send half their forces from the Viper Nebula and Yuki-Theta relays too. Fighters based on the inner planets were scrambled, and naval crews recalled from leave. The latter were able to get back to their ships in a matter of hours thanks to the First Fleet's move, meaning that those ships that did remain intact would now be at full fighting capacity. The batarians braced for the naval assault against their motherworld.

But it did not come. Battlefleet Trafalgar's second wave exited FTL above Verush, once again using the moons and asteroids as cover, only to find that the naval base had been abandoned. Within minutes, the scans of the system indicated that the batarians had moved into strong orbital defence formations and that their fighter cover was now very significant. Group-Captain Eva Gonzalez-O'Neill, the commanding officer of the second wave, scrubbed the primary mission. Khar'shan was simply too tough a nut to crack with her available forces. The secondary mission to escort the missile frigates to the relays was still a go, this time with hugely reinforced numbers.

The Hades Deterrence group, led by the SSV _Thermopylae_, moved towards the Verge relay defence stations with an escort of fighters. Once in optimal position to avoid GARDIAN fire, the frigates launched their Scylla missiles, set to maximum yield, at the targets. The batarian stations were essentially planetary defence cannons mounted onto asteroids that had been towed into place around the relay. Scylla missiles, designed for trans-relay and long range WMD attacks, were too fast to be shot down at any rate. The defence stations were sunk in nuclear fire, ground-penetrating warheads ignoring the facilities themselves and instead breaking apart the very rock they were built on. The combined force of the blasts managed to move the stations away from the jump zone as well, a factor planned for by the DID and the Alliance Navy. With the first relay open, the deterrence frigates used it and returned to the Verge where the Alliance First and Second Fleets, as well as the rest of the galaxy, awaited news.

Meanwhile, the Dis and Tartarus Deterrence groups moved towards the secondary relay, to travel to the Viper Nebula and destroy the batarian fixed defences around the relay guarding the way to the Traverse. With them went the bulk of the Alliance's second wave, including all of the fleet frigates and the bulk of the fighters. Group-Captain Gonzalez-O'Neill wanted to give the impression that their main target was the Viper Nebula relay, and pull the batarians away from attempting to stop the Group Hades. She succeeded, but not for the reasons she intended. Just as the entire attack group dropped out of FTL and approached the secondary relay at sublight speeds, the requested forces from the batarian Second Fleet jumped into the system. The admirals in charge of the batarian detachments and the Group-Captain were mutually surprised at each other's presence, and both ordered their ships to attack.

The Alliance fighters and frigates dealt significant damage to the incoming batarian cruisers, but the closeness of the engagement meant that the advantages the first wave had enjoyed were not present for the second. The Alliance vessels were forced to retreat, losing more than a hundred fighters and ten frigates in the action, although they traded those losses dearly. Furthermore, the deterrence frigates were not able to transit to the Viper Nebula. With the batarian First Fleet moving to join the fight, the Gonzalez-O'Neill ordered the withdrawal to Pearl and sent the report of the action to Hackett.

**_**Phase 3: Ambushes**_**

Admiral Hackett was surprised by the failure of his second wave. The primary objective of utterly crippling the batarian First Fleet had not been achieved, and the secondary objective of opening the relays for Battlefleet Tsushima had only been half-completed. Significant damage had been done, and his own forces now were now in an excellent position to take the fight to the enemy, but the primary problem of the batarian relay defences had not been overcome entirely. The batarians could camp on the Harsa primary relay and force a more favourable battle with fighter support from Khar'shan itself. Battlefleet Tsushima had orders to wait twenty four hours after confirmation of the downing of the relay defences before jumping into the Kite's Nest, and Admiral Hunt would no doubt waste no time in moving through regardless of the actual situation. Hackett refused to allow that, and put into motion one of his contingency plans.

Meanwhile, news of successful destruction of the fixed defences at Harsa was met with jubilation and outpourings of patriotic zeal among humans all over the galaxy. Business across Alliance space ground to a halt as news coverage of every new detail continued. The Citadel saw unrest as humans stormed into the Presidium to the shouts of _TERRA VICTOR _and the singing of the Alliance anthem. Citadel Council banners were torn down and replaced with Pale Blue Dot flags, and the celebrants eventually made camp around the Krogan monument to hold a street party. In the Terminus, riots erupted on Omega and Ilium between humans and batarians, with some asari backing the humans out of solidarity for kidnapped relatives. Both the Citadel and human governments remained silent that day, as the battle had yet to be won.

September 21st saw Admiral Hackett fighting a withdrawal from Pearl as the batarians finally discovered his fleet's position. However, rather than moving back towards Tower Bridge with his entire force, he split them up by attack group and sent each around Harsa to the nearest star system with a garden world, of which there were four. He held Group Niké at the Fenloup system, the first on the way back towards the systems already conquered.

This was a gamble. The batarians could have overwhelmed any one of the attack groups individually, even as badly mauled as they were. However, Hackett had good reasons to take the risk. The first was that the batarians now had to guard the relay into Harsa with ships, diverting much of their resources and attention. The second was that the obvious defence against his attack groups being taken on individually was that they would retreat in the face of a superior enemy, and that Admiral Ar'dra would assume the same and only use forces slightly superior to each group if possible in order to trap them. The third was that in attacking four batarian colonies around Khar'shan at once, it would make the decision about which one ought to be prioritised a difficult one.

Hackett was mostly correct in the first two assumptions, but wrong in the third. Admiral Ar'dra did indeed leave a significant force to guard the relay to the Verge, and he did indeed assume that the Alliance attack groups would retreat. However, he underestimated the ruthlessness of the Ar'dra dynasty as a whole. The Arch-Hegemon himself ordered that the two most valuable colonies, Shadran and Hak'ruun, be swept clean first. His cousin the Admiral agreed wholeheartedly, and was less interested in destroying the Alliance forces immediately than Hackett could have imagined. Rather, the batarians intended to use their local superiority of firepower to push the Alliance attack groups around until further reinforcements from the batarian Third Fleet could be mustered.

The fight over Shadran was a brutal one. Group Valkyria was in orbit over the world itself, when half of the forces Ar'dra had allocated for counterattacking dropped in with them, the _Fist of Khar'shan_ leading them. The batarian fighters immediately began kamikaze attacks against the fleet carriers, and the cruisers began dueling. The Macha-class carriers _Freya, Astarte, _and _Pahket _suffered multiple direct hits to their port sides, putting their launchers out of commission and forcing them to withdraw. The _Valkyria _itself saw much attention from similar attacks, but its defences managed to hold them off with little trouble. The superiority of Alliance designs showed, and the batarians took heavy initial losses, but the humans were forced to withdraw fully within an hour as the weight of numbers began to tell. Admiral Ar'dra himself aboard the flagship declared it a great victory, and indeed it was. He had his fleet follow Group Valkyria to keep them off balance, smelling blood in the water.

Meanwhile, the battle on the other side of cluster to Harsa was not going well for the Hegemony. Group Victoria, having received word of the attack on Group Valkyria, lay in wait for a similar attack. When the batarian fleet arrived, the _Jaw of Khar'shan_ at its head, it was immediately set upon by vengeful frigate wolfpacks and fighter squadrons as it approached Hak'ruun. The batarian commander, one Admiral Ta'lek, ordered his ships to reform to repel it, assuming that the Alliance ships had withdrawn to avoid battle and left the fighters behind to cause as much damage as possible. Unfortunately for the admiral and his fleet, the Alliance ships had done no such thing, and as soon as his formation was disrupted, hundreds of Belfast-class and New York-class cruisers jumped into firing positions. The Alliance ships had three minutes of free shooting before their counterparts could turn their main batteries, and by then, many were destroyed.

An interesting note is how the _Jaw of Khar'shan _itself was crippled. The eponymous _SSV Belfast_, fitted out as an escort carrier and commanded by Captain Hannah Shepard, seized a key opportunity. Its now-famous captain noted that the batarian superdreadnought was badly protected from fighter attack from the rear, a trait quite common among galactic designs at the time due to much derivation from older turian designs. She redirected her entire fighter complement, some eighty fighters, into a path that brought it through the bulk of the enemy screen and behind the _Jaws_. Although half the fighters were knocked out en route, at a loss of nineteen pilots, the dreadnought's engines and reactor were entirely disabled. Once this occurred, the rest of the batarian ships fled in all directions, and the Alliance claimed the victory.

**_**Phase 4: Untergang**_**

At 2100 hours Standard Earth Time, September 21st 2178, Admiral Hunt joined the battle with the majority of Battlefleet Tsushima. The batarian pickets were soon staring down the barrels of all five Thor-class dreadnoughts, as well as the heavy cruisers and cruisers of the Second and Third Alliance fleets. Hugely outnumbered and hugely outgunned, the batarian defence formation crumpled like paper. Tsushima jumped into orbit over Khar'shan itself and began bombardment of key military installations, and swatted the unsupported ground-based fighters out of the skies. Contact with Hackett was established soon after the Alliance had established complete spatial supremacy in Harsa, and Battlefleet Trafalgar stopped its operational manoeuvres to link up the two. This was accomplished by the early morning of September 22nd. Humanity now had the Hegemony's capital and the batarian motherworld in a chain of steel.

Worse, the batarians knew there was little they could do. The Arch-Hegemon desperately sent messages to his cousin Admiral Ar'dra to retake Harsa from the Alliance. The Admiral replied that he did not have the forces available to successfully do so, but that he would die trying regardless. He ordered all available ships, including those in the Viper Nebula, to rally for an offensive a day later. Hackett and Hunt knew that the end was nigh for the Batarian Navy too, and communicated the situation to Consul Taro and Minister Bankole. Caught in the patriotic fervour they had themselves unleashed, the Consul had the news that the final battle was about to begin released to the galactic media. Once again, humans across the galaxy revelled in their triumph, and the realisation that the war was almost over.

However, the news was the straw that broke the camel's back where the Citadel Council was concerned. The Council itself had been in secret session since the beginning of Hackett's offensive, and throughout the entire operation, there had been a deadlock. The asari, not wanting to stifle and thus isolate humanity, continually voted against intervention. The salarians, seeing what humanity was really capable of for the first time, continually pushed for the war to be stopped. The turians, torn between the obvious ambition of humanity and sheer begrudging admiration for its response to a clear threat, abstained until the last moment. The shock of Khar'shan being left completely vulnerable to invasion was an eventuality that not even the asari had seen coming, and when the vote came, it was unanimous.

Combined turian, asari and salarian fleets began moving, without any hint of secrecy, towards the Verge. The full measure of the Alliance's Black Forest Protocol went into effect automatically. Alliance Army Air Force A62s carrying Scylla missiles touched off from Earth, Elysium, Eden Prime and Terra Nova within twenty minutes of the news reaching the Alliance High Command. The Army's own trans-relay ballistic missiles were fuelled and put on quick launch mode. Deterrence Fleet Hades, rearmed mere hours before the news from the Kite's Nest had arrived on the Citadel, broke orbit over Eden Prime and began jumping into salarian space, its target sector. The trigger for a truly galactic war was now primed, and Consul Taro was the one with her finger upon it.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since people were quite literally begging for me to end the cliffhanger last chapter, I got this together quickly. Not that it helps, because this one ends on a cliffhanger too, albeit one with a more obvious conclusion given that the Citadel and the Alliance did not go to war. Though how they came to that decision is obviously of interest._

_Since BF2157 was delayed again due to this story, I threw in a reference._


	45. THE KITE'S NEST: The Aftermath

THE BATTLE ENDS

The Consuls called an immediate cabinet meeting to decide on the appropriate response to the approaching Citadel forces closing in on the Verge. The Council had not yet issued any sort of statement on the matter, although none of the ministers seriously expected them to do so until the turian fleets in particular had arrived in position over Khar'shan. Given that the Citadel forces had opted to avoid Alliance space to make the journey, for political reasons, the arrival of the turians and the asari from the other side of the galaxy would take at least thirty hours. Some of the ministers pressed for waiting until that time before taking any action. DeBankole immediately killed the idea. Unlike the other two of the Big Three species' forces, the salarians shared a border with the the Traverse and as they were only a single relay jump from the Verge Wall itself, could intervene directly on their own.

For Consul Taro, she knew that matters would be resolved in principle long before the thirty hour window closed. Alliance WMD deterrence forces had already begun moving. If not intercepted, Alliance A62s would be in position to launch their thermonuclear warheads direct against the eastern and central turian colonies in four hours. An hour after that, the Hades Deterrence Fleet would arrive in Pranas, able to launch against Sur'Kesh. In twenty one hours, the A62s would reach asari space via the Terminus corridor. She related this information to the cabinet, and the meeting descended into chaos. Half the ministers, buoyed by the news, demanded that a warning be issued to the Citadel against intervention, making it clear what failure to comply would mean. A select few from the more pacifistic parts of the Consul's own Labour Party were running scared, demanding that Alliance forces withdraw from the Kite's Nest. The rest were at a loss.

Taro, extremely displeased at the display of both of these factions, snarled back at them. Any ultimatum sent to the Citadel would escalate the situation. Any retreat would be both cowardice and dismissing the sacrifice of millions of humans, a sacrifice that had been made to expand the Alliance's control and assure security from batarian attacks in the future. Still, the Cabinet had no ready alternative. Eventually, Minister Bankole, keeping track of Citadel commentaries on the new situation, came to a conclusion and proposed what would become the solution. Taro, much relieved, adopted it.

The A62s, being small craft, reached their launch positions in turian space without any trouble, but Taro refused to issue the Consular Authorisation for the Release of Nuclear Weapons. The bombers remained on stand by. This was not an unusual situation for the Army Air Forces; they trained for weapons-hold scenarios, for timed attacks in coordination with ground invasions. The Navy deterrence forces were a different story. The Hades Deterrence Fleet was intercepted by the salarians as they entered the Pranas System. All but one of the missile frigates immediately stood down, boxed in by large numbers of far larger vessels as they were. The exception was the _Stalingrad_, a Thermopylae-class missile frigate commanded by Captain Mari Stokke. Ignoring all orders from the salarians to power down her engines, she successfully navigated through the defences, dodging GARDIAN fire from three salarian cruisers and made it to FTL. The _Stalingrad_ entered orbit over Sur'Kesh, opened all twenty of its missile doors and threatened independent launch if any salarian vessels approached it. Captain Stokke requested an order, either to withdraw or fire.

The news that the deterrence forces had successfully made it to the salarian homeworld was the moment that the Consul was waiting for. The point had been made. Human ships carrying WMDs could penetrate even to the homeworlds of the Big Three in a matter of hours, the strategic weapons doctrine of the Alliance had been proven entirely correct. She ordered Hades to withdraw, including the _Stalingrad_, and they began the return journey to Mars. There was still twenty five hours before the turians and asari would link up on the border of the Hegemony. More than enough time before the Alliance Navy would have no choice but to defend the gains won by blood.

Consul Taro opened negotiations with the Citadel Council via the asari embassy on Earth. She informed the councillors that she had ordered the withdrawal of her missile frigates as an act of good faith, but that the advance of the turian and asari fleets towards the Verge was unacceptable. Humanity could no longer tolerate the Hegemony having the capability and the seemingly endless desire to subjugate her, and the ownership of planets seized during the fighting had not been disputed before. She asked that the Citadel fleets be recalled, and that the Council allow the Hegemony to be conquered as there was no other alternative to secure peace. The whole region was to become a demilitarised zone under the administration of a new batarian government afterwards.

The salarian councillor reacted with rage to this. She complained about the Alliance incursion into her species' space and the threatened nuclear annihilation of her homeworld. The turians' representative joined the salarians in opposing the Consul's proposition. Records recovered from Thessia indicate that the asari would have been willing to accept the idea of human occupation of the Kite's Nest, provided there were safeguards similar to those imposed over the Krogan DMZ. However, with the opposition of the two other species made clear, the asari had no choice but to back the refusal. Consul Taro repeated her assertion that the batarians would never allow humanity to live in peace, and pointed out that they had initiated the war by attacking Elysium with the intention of annexing it.

The negotiations continued until an hour before the arrival of the Citadel fleets. At last, there was a breakthrough, about which no one but the asari were particularly pleased. Humanity would remain in the Kite's Nest and the Terminus systems it had conquered, but only until the Hegemony could be brought to the table to sign a formal peace treaty.

The Skyllian Verge, ex-batarian colonies in the Traverse and the Eagle Nebula would be permanently annexed to the Systems Alliance before such a treaty. In effect, humanity would be allowed to keep the vast majority of the useful worlds it had conquered in the war, something that greatly pleased Taro.

Batarian colonies as well as worlds formerly belonging to pirate lords in the Terminus would be abandoned immediately. This stipulation was to secure the Citadel's own political position and soothe the anger of the salarians; humanity's expansion by war was checked within the bounds of Citadel law, and notions of military expansionism put to rest for the moment. The Alliance government could live with this part of the agreement; the Terminus colonies required a great deal of protection and investment that the Alliance wasn't in a position to deliver effectively. The worlds had not been particularly troublesome to take in the first place, and so there would be no great outcry about them except from Terra Firma.

The Alliance would withdraw from the Kite's Nest, the Viper Nebula and the Theta Cluster once the batarians signed the treaty. In the mean time, the asari fleets would remain to keep the remains of the Hegemony's navy and the Alliance Navy apart, with broad authority to use force should either side attempt to engage with the other. In short, the Batarian Hegemony would survive as a political entity and as a state recognised by the Citadel Council. This stipulation was entirely unacceptable to Taro until the last hour, not least because if she had agreed to it, she would have been deposed by the Alliance Parliament as soon as she presented the agreement. However, it was absolutely essential from the Citadel perspective. Alliance occupation would have been unacceptable as it would have meant putting humanity on a permanent war footing, and it would have sparked galaxy-wide terrorism. A puppet government was viewed as an unreliable second option, particularly compared with keeping the existing elite cowed but in place to insure stability in the region.

The continued existence of the Hegemony was only accepted by Taro due to the last article of the agreement. Despite insistent turian resistance to the idea, and a great deal of salarian reluctance, an alternative to occupation to secure the Alliance's borders was found. Despite only being a member of the galactic community for decades, and ignoring the fact that it had taken the turians centuries to achieve the same status, humanity would begin the process to become the fourth race of the Citadel Council. The asari warned that it might take a human lifetime to achieve, but that the Alliance had already proven itself capable of defending itself to great effect and the batarians would take as long to recover. The Alliance had already proven its strength, a key necessity for Council membership, and its wealth grew rapidly too. All that remained was to prove that humanity could defend the other species' interests as effectively as it had defended itself. The first stage of this process was the induction of a human Spectre, to be followed by further such inductions and human participation in peacekeeping operations under turian command.

The offer was a good one. Taro knew that if humanity became the fourth race of the Citadel, the batarians could not attack human colonies without drawing the others into the conflict. The asari were right in saying that the operations in the Kite's Nest had broke the back of the Batarian Navy, who at that moment were still struggling to regroup to relieve the orbital blockade of Khar'shan. The prestige of cutting ahead of the volus, elcor and hanar was far from small either. Even Terra Firma would be pleased, as humanity would not have to wait for centuries as the hated turians had.

Taro accepted, and issued orders to implement the agreement.

The Citadel Fleets entered the Kite's Nest via the Theta relay, taking some minor damage from the minefields there but pressing on to Harsa with no real trouble. There, Battlefleets Trafalgar and Tsushima waited, made aware of the agreement and ready to receive the newcomers. The two huge fleets greeted each other as allies, and awaited the inevitable. The Hegemonic Navy, or what was left of it, dropped out of FTL ten hours later to find itself confronted by both Citadel and Alliance forces in overwhelming strength. The terms of the agreement were quickly transmitted to both the batarian flagship and the Arch-Hegemon. Admiral Ar'dra was ready to reject them, to go down fighting rather than give up a single scrap of land. His cousin the Arch-Hegemon overruled him however. There would be another opportunity to fight in the future. Holding onto power was his concern now.

The Battle of the Kite's Nest ended, as Alliance, Batarian and Asari Republics vessels took up positions around the Harsa System, and began the wait for the battle of politicians to end.

* * *

AFTER THE BATTLE

The negotiations for a permanent peace settlement were brief. Consul Taro received the full backing of the Alliance Parliament for the initial agreement with the Citadel, and went to the negotiations with domestic support firmly behind her. Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra on the other hand was fighting for his political life, as many of the Highborn supporting him wished to continue fighting. In his mind, the peace negotiations were the only shot at restoring some honour before rebuilding for the next war. The Citadel wanted a rubber stamp on the agreement they had already negotiated with Consul Taro, and nothing more.

The batarians' position was one of refusal. They accepted the annexation of the Skyllian Verge as a fait accompli, and applauded that the Alliance had been forced to give up the Terminus worlds. However, they put forth the idea that the conflict had been about the Verge in the first place, that their attack on Elysium was the start of a border war, not a total war. The Arch-Hegemon's diplomats placed blame on escalating the war on the shoulders of Taro, deBankole and the Alliance High Command. As such, they demanded the return of the Traverse worlds conquered by humanity and the independence of Anhur, Korlus and the rest of the Eagle Nebula from human occupation. The Traverse had never been the site of previous disagreements, and the Eagle Nebula had been attacked without provocation by an expansionist Consul who had stained her hands with blood.

The Alliance responded with intelligence recovered from Elanos Haliat's personal logs and comms records, laying out the grand plan for the offensive to follow from the fall of Elysium. These disproved any idea that the Hegemony had wanted a limited war over one or two colonial clusters, and outright stated that the final goal was the conquest and enslavement of humanity as a species. The Alliance negotiation team were outraged by the batarian demands, and in their anger, the chief negotiator Donnel Udina stated that humanity had ten thousand Torfans waiting should the batarians refuse to endorse the agreement already on the table.

The batarian team merely looked on in confusion. Both the political and military leadership of the Hegemony had not yet been informed of the events of Torfan, and the stunning example of soldiery undertaken by Jane Shepard on that world. The human delegation took great pleasure in describing how one Alliance soldier had fought and killed the very best the Hegemony had to offer, as well the events before and after. This broke the calm of the batarians entirely, but the asari had had enough. On behalf of the Citadel, they laid down an ultimatum of their own to the Arch-Hegemon: accept the treaty terms as stated, or face war with the Citadel. The batarian diplomats had no choice, they capitulated on the spot. They signed the Treaty of the Skyllian Verge on October 24th 2178.

Privately, the chief asari diplomat wrote in her journal that "_Humans are both beautiful and terrifying;_" a clear reference to both the physical similarities of the two species and the easy abandonment of diplomatic means by human politicians contrary to asari notions of government.

With the treaty signed, Battlefleets Trafalgar and Tsushima recovered all damaged and wrecked ships, leaving nothing behind for the batarians to study, and withdrew from the Kite's Nest. Tower Bridge was disassembled, station by station, and replaced with automatic listening posts throughout the entire route. The asari fleets remained, as the batarians repossessed the orbit of their motherworld and the relay jumpzones, their navy a ghost of its former self.

The Second Verge War was over, and humanity was victorious.

* * *

Having proven himself to be a cunning and relentless officer, Admiral Steven Hackett was promoted to the vacant position of Chief of Staff of the Alliance Navy in 2179, beating out Admiral Hunt in the process. Hunt himself conceded the position with grace, calling Hackett the greatest naval commander he had ever met after reading the full operational reports of the action in the Kite's Nest. With the entire service arm under his wing, Hackett would use the years between the end of the Second Verge War and the beginning of the Eden Prime War pushing a new reform agenda. While Alliance tactics and technology had been greatly superior to those of the Hegemony, the war had exposed certain needs that would need to be filled, most notably in stealth technology and ultra long-range weaponry. The limited success of the El Alemein-class frigates in the Kite's Nest, especially that ship's heat sink system, had great implications for the future. Hackett was the driving force behind the development of the Normandy-class and Churubusco-class stealth frigates, the Hero-class stealth guided missile destroyer, and the redevelopment of the Macha-class carriers into Apollo-class and Artemis-class guided missile-carrier hybrids.

Much like Cassandra DeRuyter, Hackett would remain at the very heart of human military affairs right into the beginning of the post-Reaper years, proving himself an essential part of the effort that went towards the survival of organic sentient life in the Milky Way galaxy.

* * *

Admiral Petra Hunt would remain in command of the Alliance Second Fleet through the Eden Prime War. He became a staunch supporter of both Hackett and the policies put forward by the new Chief of Staff. However, he largely disagreed with the decision to ally more closely with the quarians rather than consolidating ties with the Citadel species, seeing the former as less capable of helping humanity defend against the Reapers. This placed him under significant political pressure, until he retired in 2184 and was replaced by Admiral David Anderson. He spent his retirement on the Traverse colony of Horizon, until the Collector Crisis when he was kidnapped by the Collectors during the raid on that world in 2185. His body was never recovered, and he is presumed dead.

* * *

The body of Major-General Alexander Belmont was returned to Earth for burial, a hero of the war. His home country, the United States, gave him a full state funeral in Presque Ile, Maine, at the behest of Alliance Defence Minister deBankole. He was given military awards for distinguished service from the United States, the European Union, the African Union, the South American Federation, Australia, and the Alliance itself.

In the years afterwards, he became one of the legendary warriors of the Verge Wars, alongside de Santos, DeRuyter, Shepard, and Orzeski. Popular culture made a particular figure of him, all the more so as he was the only one of the legends to have died in combat, doing his duty. Although not quite on the level of Shepard, mostly due to turian and later asari interest in the N7, Belmont would feature as a character in many media entertainment features. He is remembered as an officer who always managed to balance the needs of the mission with the lives of those under his command.

Belmont's sons and daughters followed their father's example, and all five of them enlisted to serve in the Eden Prime War. All five would be killed in action during the course of that war. Two on Eden Prime itself during the second battle for that world, one at the Battle of Ket'osh, one on Rannoch, and one on the Citadel. They would be buried together with their father at the insistence of Alice Dennison.

* * *

Admiral Dhark Ar'dra continued as Supreme Commander of the Batarian Hegemonic Combined Forces, second only to the Arch-Hegemon himself. His power greatly increased in the years after the Second Verge War, as he possessed the rare combination of being both utterly loyal to his cousin and charged with the rebuilding of the Hegemony's strength. It was Dhark who pulled the batarians towards greater technological progress via use of a dead Reaper, although the Arch-Hegemon was the one who ordered that the remains be moved to a facility below his own residence in the Great Ziggurat.

Dhark Ar'dra was still in command when the Terra Nova Incident occurred, and had been unaware of the plan until Governor Sak'davran made a formal complaint about it. It is unknown to what extent the Admiral was exposed to Reaper indoctrination techniques, but the Alliance classified him as a top risk figure when the time came. The Third Verge War, known as the Great Upheaval in batarian historiography, would be Dhark's last stand, but by then, humanity had a seat on the Citadel Council and had created the Versailles Pact, and there was no amount of preparation the Admiral could have done that would have made a difference to the outcome.

* * *

Kesrak Ar'dra's position as Arch-Hegemon was greatly threatened by the peace treaty with the Alliance, at least at first. While the vast majority of the lowborn understood why he had signed it, and even whispered correctly that he was simply biding his time, much of the Highborn nobility that remained were incensed. Their honour had been greatly damaged as a result of the war, and the deliberate targeting of nobles by the Alliance in 2176 was neither forgotten nor forgiven. However, the ranks of the Highborn within the Hegemony itself were greatly depleted. Taking the nuclear attacks, the combat losses of officers, the destruction of the Firstborn on Torfan, and riots in the prison camps of Sidon, there were now more Highborn among the batarian dissidents and the warlords of the Terminus than there were in the Hegemony itself.

The Arch-Hegemon, ever mindful of an opportunity, rescinded the exile of many of the batarians in the Terminus. Some had never lived in the Hegemony at all, their ancestors having been exiled in the power struggles of the 2140s and 50s. Regardless, this had the effect of padding out Ar'dra's support among the Highborn, which in combination with the lowborn's fascination with their supreme leader, cemented his position for years to come. However, the act of allowing the children of exiles to return while keeping the batarian dissidents in the cold would also cement the Arch-Hegemon's demise, as they began to organise an alternative government on Shan'kharit with full Alliance support.

The years between 2178 and 2183 were spent building the Hegemony up again, and taking every opportunity to weaken the Alliance. Acts of terrorism against strategic targets were occasionally carried out by External Forces operatives, now free to roam Citadel space once again. When the opportunity to destroy Terra Nova by redirecting an asteroid arose, the Arch-Hegemon did not hesitate for a second. This was perhaps Kesrak Ar'dra's first act of complete indoctrinated madness. The Alliance was in the middle of the Eden Prime War, a potentially far more devastating conflict than the Second Verge War ever threatened to be, particularly as they had not planned for it. By 2183, Ar'dra had lived with a Reaper corpse beneath his formal residence for four years. Once the Eden Prime War concluded with the Battle of Tikkun and the Battle of the Citadel, the Alliance had once again placed the destruction of the Hegemony as a state at the top of their list of priorities. After they had been given evidence of the Reaper technology in the possession of the Arch-Hegemon, all objections from the other Citadel species about invading the Kite's Nest once again disappeared.

* * *

Nozomi Taro continued her second term of office with semi-divine status, delaying debate over war-time level military spending for four years after the victory. The public, while disappointed that the Hegemony still existed, were not in any mood to nitpick over details. Alliance territory had been greatly expanded, humanity's position in galactic affairs had been raised to the very highest levels, and the threat of batarian attacks like those on Mindoir and Elysium had been completely eliminated. Taro continued her policy of peacetime military build-up in the face of existing and future threats, the Terminus becoming the primary focus of Alliance threat assessments. She had Hackett's military innovations funded through 2183, before announcing at the start of 2182 that she would not be seeking re-election as Consul or to her seat in the Alliance Parliament representing southern Japan.

With the arrival of the deBankole-Dennison Administration in August 2182, Taro returned to Earth and was named the first female Grand-Chamberlain of Japan. She held this position until the end of 2183, when she announced her retirement and returned to her estate on Kyushu. She was regularly sought for comment on political matters throughout the Eden Prime War and the Collector Crisis, and was known to praise Consul Dennison in particular. The Reaper War saw her return to leadership once again, rallying the Japanese people against the Reapers after they destroyed the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and razed Kyoto to the ground. She spent the war coordinating supply and morale efforts for the soldiers defending her mother country, and survived despite no less than six targeted attempts on her life by Reaper ground forces sent specifically to kill her.

Nozomi Taro died in her sleep in 2188, ten years to the day of the end of the Battle of the Kite's Nest, a tiger's smile on her face.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: So that's it for the Second Verge War. As promised, work on the First Contact War will begin next, as I have not finished Battlefield 2183 yet and the Eden Prime War would spoil that story._

_Also, I got this out early for you all, as ending one cliffhanger with another cliffhanger was a tad cruel._

_I hope you've enjoyed the story so far._


	46. FIRST CONTACT: Prelude to Battle

THE FIRST CONTACT WAR (2157)

April 30th, 2157.

Humanity finally encounters what it has feared for more than a decade; sentient alien life, hostile, technologically advanced, and unwilling to negotiate. Along with the need to fairly coordinate the colonisation of the stars, the Systems Alliance's founding purpose was to counteract the threat of conflict with alien civilisations. That the children of Earth were not alone in the universe had been definitively proved in 2144, although it took some years for the truth to be known publicly.

Extensive preparations for the inevitable were planned. The additional discovery of the mass relay system exacerbated the situation, to the point that many humans believed that they would face a war of truly existential scale. Some believed such a war could not be won. None believed it could be avoided. If the aliens were anything like humanity itself, they would fight for their place.

By contrast, the Turian Hierarchy was in the midst of both a golden age and a crisis of identity. The Krogan were defeated centuries before, the geth never left the Veil, and the Terminus was less of a threat than ever before thanks to the expansion of asari interests via Ilium and Omega. Turians enjoyed an ever improving standard of living, yet their society remained braced for wars that did not come.

Tales of valour and bravery were instilled into the education of every Turian child, yet there were no opportunities for the same glory in the Hierarchy of the pre-human era. Between 1900 CE and 2157 CE, millions of turians left for the Terminus Systems, seeking fame and fortune, joining a steady stream of batarians, krogan and asari. Turians would be the second largest group in the Terminus by the time of the Relay 314 Incident.

However, a new opportunity arrived suddenly and without warning, a threat just large enough to cover the turian people with glory and small enough to not require centuries of bloodletting to overcome:

Humanity.

* * *

The 22nd Century would have been the human race's most deadly even without the discovery of the mass effect.

It started in the midst of three major wars. The Third European Civil War began in 2098 until 2102, a brutal conflict in the Mediterranean, between the European Union and separatists in North Africa and the Levant objecting to EU sanctions due to political repression.

In 2102, months before the end of that war, the Unification War began in Asia. Tensions between India and the Middle-East Coalition had been growing for decades, and with war seeming inevitable, the Indians turned to the Pan-Asian Coalition. They joined the Russians, Iranians and Chinese in the PAC and together swept across the Middle East in a great tide of war. The MEC fell in a year, and with that complete, the Pan-Asian Coalition turned its attentions to South East Asia, conquering everything from Burma to Papua New Guinea by 2107.

In 2106, ten years after the bombing of the Statue of Liberty by secessionist terrorists, the Union of North American States collapsed into civil war after protesters were shot in Montreal and Tijuana. The intense fighting lasted only six months before the European Union and African Union threatened to intervene to restore order. Canada, Mexico and the United States were restored as independent nations along their pre-union borders, with Mexico and the US maintaining close ties.

By 2110, there were no active wars anywhere on Earth, as the huge power blocs consolidated their positions. However, the first signs that something else was greatly wrong began to show. From 2112 onwards, the climate got colder. Permanent glacial flows moved deep into previously inhabited territories by 2119. United Nations climatologists announced that a subtle change in solar output has placed Earth into the beginning of a new Ice Age.

At first, the world powers rallied to provide humanitarian assistance to affected areas, and it appeared as if the common threat would unite the species. However, unrest soon began, particularly in the highly populated Siberian provinces of the Pan-Asian Coalition. Previous global warming allowed the mass settlement of the region, but by 2123, the ice and snows made life increasingly impossible there. The PAC responded with force to riots in camps for those forced out of their homes, the only response it knew to such situations. Condemnation of the act was widespread throughout the rest of the world.

The move towards war became inevitable as the climate got worse. Europe's population was shielded from the direct glacier flows by the mountains of Norway, northern Sweden and Scotland well into the 2130s, although Finland had to be evacuated entirely in 2136. Crop yields almost everywhere fell, the exception being in the EU's agricultural heartlands on the Mediterranean coasts. Pressure on governments everywhere increased drastically. The climate was not the only soure of conflict, however.

The US economy suffered a significant stumble when Eldfell-Ashland Energy successfully demonstrated helium extraction from Saturn, smashing their monopoly on fusion reactor fuel from Luna. In South America, pan-Latin nationalism was booming and the weakness of the US was seen as an opportunity. In Africa, the continent least affected by the climate situation, the sense that the federation should become the watchdog of the world against global conflict was growing. The demands for action grew.

2137 saw the last effort for peace dashed. After months of negotiation, US-backed deal on energy and food between the PAC and the EU failed when European citizens refused it in a continent-wide referendum. War in Eurasia became inevitable, and the next two years were dominated by semi-secret war preparations and further diplomatic summits to buy time.

The Cold War finally began in 2139, with PAC assaults on the EU's Minsk Defensive Line. Africa joined on the European side, honouring its alliance with the EU and fulfilling the deep desire of its people to punish the aggressors. By 2141, the Minsk and Brandenburg Defensive Lines had been breached and PAC forces had reached the borders of France, but the Suez Front remained static and the glaciers finally flowed into Central Europe via Finland and the North Sea, leaving PAC gains more or less useless for agricultural purposes.

The same year, the South American Federation extended an ultimatum to Mexico and the small Central American states; join or be invaded. Central America capitulated. Mexico refused and called for US assistance. Despite lingering enmity over secession, the US agreed, and the American front of the Cold War opened. The American and Mexcian economies had been lifted and prepared for war by arms exports to Europe and Africa, and the SAF found themselves in a war they had not expected, gravely overestimating the weakness of the US.

By 2144, the PAC had conquered most of mainland Europe, but struggled to make any progress against North Africa, Italy, Spain and those parts of the British Isles that weren't under the ice. US progress in South America brought Brazil into the war on the South American side. Everywhere became a stalemate, with titans clashing in the skies. Starvation set in globally, the first real worldwide famine in the planet's history.

The population of Earth was static at ten billion before the arrival of the New Ice Age, and the great dream of colonising the solar system was in its infancy of realisation. In every country, but in the PAC especially, people began to die. Hunger was not the direct cause of any of the deaths, but the weakness brought on by extreme rationing and the neglect of antibiotic research before and during the course of the war allowed common diseases to become extremely contagious and deadly. The Siberian Flu would become the number one killer of the war, and it was far from alone.

The Cold War was also the first human war to have battles on other planetary bodies. The SAF briefly employed missiles against US mining colonies on the Moon, but these were ineffective due to point defences set up to deflect smaller asteroid hits.

Much more significant, for both the war and the course of human history, was the conflict on Mars. The Red Planet had settlements from the PAC, the EU and the African Union already established by 2139. These were small, consisting of no more than ten thousand people, most of whom were scientists working on practical problems in the way of greater settlement.

By 2144, the EU knew it would be able to push back the PAC and retake Europe, but morale across its armies and especially among the displaced populations was low. The previous year, they had managed to land specialised military equipment on Mars for the protection of Lowell City, the EU's major settlement. The colonists were overcome with patriotic feeling, touched that they had not been forgotten. Determined to do whatever they could, the engineers modified many of their rovers and founded the 1st Martian Armoured Regiment, to date humanity's only formal military unit founded on a planet other than Earth. This news greatly boosted EU morale that year, and the Joint European-African High Command saw an unique opportunity.

The 1st Martian was ordered to drive to and seize the PAC's own colony at Vladivostok-On-Mars, a journey of two months but well within the capabilities of the colonists to achieve. It is not known whether or not the attack would have succeeded, but the offensive ground to a halt when rover fell into a pit. What was found when the rescue team arrived to help changed everything.

The Prothean Ruins on Mars was the most excellently preserved site in the galaxy, save for the singular exception of the Archive at the Temple of Athame on Thessia. It contained huge data troves that seemed extremely easy to access, courtesy of adaptive translation programmes written into the base VI. It also contained raw materials intended for base maintenance, including a large stockpile of refined element zero. Most importantly, it held a secret that had eluded human physicists since Newton; the mass effect.

It was the Holy Grail. The scientists on Mars informed their superiors and decided that their efforts were better deployed in figuring out how to use the new alien technology to win the Cold War. News of the discovery was kept absolutely secret in European circles. Even the EU's African allies were kept in the dark. Although the PAC spies intercepted some of the transmissions, they assumed that the reference to alien technology was some sort of code and that Lowell City was being used as a relay point for secure communications. In the mean time, the war continued.

In early 2145, the integration of the mass effect into human technology began. The science teams concluded that the quickest and most effective way to use the discovery to win the war was to upgrade existing orbital strike capabilities. They came up with a design for a modification that could be easily added to existing attack-satellites. On Mars, the refined eezo was shaped into the correct pieces and sent on the months-long journey back home. On Earth, several satellites due to be launched received railguns and upgraded fusion reactors. They were launched from French Guyane without incident. In April 2145, the five satellites were mated to five eezo-enhanced barrels with primitive kinetic barriers in geostationary orbits over Eurasia. The first test firing, a kinetic strike against a PAC titan over Milan, produced stunning results.

Throughout the summer of 2145, PAC titan forces and facilities were systematically reduced by EU orbital strikes hitting with many times the force of their previous capability. Attempts to shoot down the satellites, as was possible before, fail entirely. The EU rolled back the front all the way to the original EU-PAC border in a matter of months. The PAC stood on the brink of collapse, its military success no longer propping up the stability of its regimes. The EU and Africa offered a full peace in return for disarmament and reparations over two centuries. It was rejected. The alliance began an invasion of Asia in response. Only now were nuclear weapons deployed by a belligerent, withheld due to fears of worsening the climate situation through nuclear winter. Unfortunately, the EU's anti-ballistic missile systems have long been advanced enough to deflect such an attack. Orbital strikes on open missile silos proved extremely effective too. Several ICBMs' fuel pods were detonated in their silos, destroying the missile bases.

The European response to this attempted genocide was restrained, but utterly ruthless. Previously off-table targets such as civilian government facilities and political figures were given the attention of the new orbital weapons arrays, the original five joined by ten more in October 2145. The PAC's ability to rule was destroyed building by building, politician by politician, general by general, until finally the surviving members of the government, all junior, agree to an unconditional surrender on November 11th to European forces in Asia and African forces in the Middle East.

The next day saw the European Union join the war in the Americas on the side of Mexico, targeting Brazil's titan forces and the SAF's manufacturing facilities from orbit, breaking the stalemate in that theatre. Both the South American Federation and Brazil call for peace talks, a request which was granted despite US protest. North and South American forces maintained their existing lines, but the war was over.

The extent to which the Cold War influenced the future of humanity among the stars cannot be understated. Due entirely to the events of the conflict, humanity discovered the mass effect at the highest technological level of any known species. The asari discovered it before they had even achieved powered flight, having natural biotic abilities and an abundance of the substance itself on their homeworld. The turians, batarians and salarians discovered it in their golden ages of early space exploration.

By sharp contrast, humanity's conflicts pushed technological advancement to the furthest point possible without use of the mass effect, making the integration of element zero technologies a simple process. Furthermore, the power plays made in the aftermath of the war shaped what would become the Systems Alliance for decades afterwards.


	47. FIRST CONTACT: The Leaders

THE LEADERS

_From Peace to War: The Foundation of the Systems Alliance_

The end of the Cold War brought with it a seismic shift in the global balance of power on Earth.

The European Union stood as the true victor of both major theatres of the Cold War, despite only ever having been truly committed to one of them. It possessed huge armies and extremely capable air forces, hardened by battle and carrying centuries of collective military experience. It possessed most of Asia through annexation; any member of the Pan-Asian Coalition that had joined willingly or had surrendered saw their territory made the property of the EU.

This left the bloc as the largest single state in the history of the human race, the largest empire that Earth would ever see. Only those that had resisted the PAC to the bitter end were given their independence once more. Japan, Korea, Nepal, and Bhutan rose from the ashes, proud and renewed. The former states of the Middle East Coalition gained some level of independence too, but divided between the EU and the African Union as protectorates.

The science that made it all possible, the mass effect, intrigued and baffled international opinion. For five years after the discovery of the Prothean ruins on Mars, the Europeans kept the secret of extraterrestrial life as its most guarded secret. Instead, the great leap forward was attributed to the brilliance and innovation of the EU's Martian colonists, whom were more than happy to keep the real source in the highest conditions of secrecy. Every year that passed saw greater strides. Despite attempts to keep the rhetoric of the victory humble, those political leaders that were aware of the ruins on Mars wishing to keep them under wraps, there was no shortage of arrogance among the victors.

The other nations of Earth found it unacceptable. The combination of greater power concentrated in the hands of a single people and the increasing arrogance of the same people seemed to be dangerous, as dangerous as the ambitions of the Pan-Asian Coalition at the very least. However, at first, this did not provoke a serious or unified response.

This was mainly due to the exhaustion of the entire world, which created a deep will to avoid conflict. Under the surface however, there were men and women on the make, ready to make an issue of the disparity as soon as the opportunity arrived.

2148 was when events overtook the feeling of planetary unity. The European Space Agency, after three years of development and careful testing, finally launched humanity's first faster-than-light spacecraft. _Ariane_ was derived from the wreck of a Prothean ship structurally, but remains a startling achievement even from the perspective of Citadel species.

This predecessor of the Geneva-class cruiser made its first jump from Mars to Luna in March 2148. A month later, it made the jump from Earth to Neptune. Its most fateful scientific voyage however was when humanity first left its own solar system, a trip with one purpose in mind. The planet Demeter, the first garden world discovered by humans, was visited and claimed for the European Union. Although the planet would not be colonised until 2152, the effect the voyage had was huge.

News that humanity had visited another life-bearing world was entirely eclipsed by the controversy that one of its major political entities had claimed it exclusively. Even the announcement of a recruitment call for astronauts from all countries by the European Space Agency dampened the outrage only slightly. In particular, there was disgust from the African Union that it had been forgotten by its great ally, disgust shared by many EU citizens who remembered the sacrifices of African soldiers on all fronts of the Cold War.

2149 would be a watershed year, as the man most responsible for the creation of the Systems Alliance stepped up to the plate to hold Europe accountable for its monopolisation of the mass effect and their unchecked colonial expansionism. Popular history does not well remember his deeds, instead remembering him for restoring the political fortunes of his extended family, allowing his more famous niece and nephew to take their place.

**Jonathan "Jona" Dennison**_, Senator for Massachusetts, Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations_

American opinion, both in North and South America, was increasingly negative during the immediate post-war years. The United States, having saved Mexico from occupation and carved its way into the northern heartlands of the South American Federation, found itself sidelined by the might of the EU. The SAF and Brazil found themselves in the position of being defeated states, despite having plenty of fight left in the tank when they were forced to capitulate after watching the EU systematically destroy the PAC's military and government.

Only in Canada was the situation different, the EU having accepted that nation as a member state, allowing huge numbers of Canadian climate refugees in US camps to migrate to Europe or rebuild their lives in those parts of Canada not swallowed whole by glaciers. This generosity was not enough to stem demands for technology sharing. Not even European civilian corporations or universities were allowed access to the mass effect, which saw them join the cause of transparency.

The EU had no wish to see the technology fall into the hands of other powers until it began construction of its new navy, one built to operate in space rather than on the ocean. This was the final straw for one American politician, who set out on a personal crusade to have the new technology shared and to discover its true source.

Jonathan Dennison had succeeded to his father's seat in the United States Senate for Massachusetts in 2142, and inherited the stigma of his father's opposition to US involvement in the defence of Mexico. By the end of the Cold War, the family reputation had been restored through vigorous campaigning for better conditions for soldiers and for aggressive action. In this, he had the aid of every able bodied member of the Dennison dynasty, including a young Alice Dennison, by now famous for her iconic picture with the Mexican Brigada Irlandesa. His reputation was greatly enhanced by their efforts to see to proper treatment for returning veterans of all nations, and he became a figure of great respect throughout the nations of Earth.

By 2149 however, Dennison saw the inequality being created by the monopoly held by the EU over mass effect technology, both potential and real. He saw the beginnings of the first truly global government, one that ruled with the iron fist, one that did not respect the differences between human societies. In Asia, the Europeans had began to impose their way of life on the populace, and due to the overwhelming nature of their victory, they were doing so without great resistance.

Dennison invited all those who would see the new technology shared together at a meeting in Hawaii, the Mass Effect Summit. The list of attendees was platinum. President of the Union of African States chaired the meeting as the leader of the most powerful state, but other heads of state were present also, including the US President, the Mexican President, the Chairperson of the South American Federation, the Supreme Commander of Brazil, and the Prime Ministers of Australia, New Zealand and Japan. On top of that, all major defence contractors from outside of Europe and many high-tech companies from the EU itself sent representatives and lobbyists, urging that something be done to free research and development of the mass effect.

The question was raised. Why was the European Union's Commission and their military High Command so insistent on keeping the technology secret in the first place? It was only a matter of time until other scientists cracked the wall and discovered how the mass effect worked, or so it was thought. Why were the Europeans not using their advantage now to make huge amounts of money? To most, it looked like the military-first strategy of the EU was a prelude to a final war of conquest. This perception was made considerably worse by the reaction of the European military to the summit itself.

From the leased airbase on Wake Island, the European Air Force launched the _Styx_, the precursor prototype to the first Geneva-class cruisers being built as the militarised version of the _Ariane_. As the Mass Effect Summit continued, and agreement looked ever closer to being reached, the _Styx_ made its way towards Hawaii in violation of US airspace. American fighters scrambled and warned the cruiser to withdraw. It did not.

Eventually, as the ship drew within visual range of Hawaii, the US President ordered that it be shot down. The fighters, equipped with anti-titan missiles, found their fire was entirely ineffective. The _Styx_'s kinetic barriers were far too strong to be breached by pre-mass effect weapons of this kind. With no other choice, President Huevera was forced to announce the outcome of the engagement before a panicking audience, and to order an evacuation. No one knew the Europeans' intent. It was feared that the _Styx_'s mission was to destroy the leadership of all the major powers in a single stroke, the first strike in the next global war.

Instead, the cruiser buzzed the convention centre at supersonic speed, running the gauntlet of AA missile and new anti-titan laser batteries with ease. The sonic boom shattered every window in the building, causing minor injuries to many delegates but no fatalities. The _Styx_, having received some damage from the lasers and with its mission complete, turned around and headed back to Wake Island at a much more leisurely pace, flying by the other Hawaiian islands on the way. The EU's message had been delivered. If war came, they would win.

The reaction to this was a mixture of anger and despair. Already it seemed like there could be no victory against such powerful machines in the hands of men and women determined to use them. In the EU itself, the attitude was one of pride and relief. Having seen their own lands subjugated, European citizens were happy to see their strength built up to be unchallengeable. EU Titan forces moved to forward deployment zones against the Americas and Australia, in case the message wasn't received loud and clear. For the most part, it was.

Dennison found himself the leader of a hopeless cause. Africa immediately withdrew its support for holding the EU accountable, in favour of attempting to leverage their alliance into technological support. The other countries were lost, unable to come up with any coherent strategy for opposing the build-up of European military might.

The Senator was not dissuaded. He continued to publicly call out the EU for what amounted to an act of war, and demanded that they respect their common humanity by sharing their knowledge. This paid off. In June 2149, he received information about element zero and how the mass effect had been discovered in his home on Cape Cod. It is not known which Martian-European scientist exactly leaked the secret, there were many Martian scientists in Massachusetts at that time for academic reasons.

Dennison gave the information to the Boston Globe, and the story broke: Humanity was not alone in the universe.

The news was received with shock and fear. Rioting began in EU cities, particularly in the occupied territories, as citizens were outraged that the information had been kept from them. This subsided quickly in Europe itself, and the anger of other powers did too, as a particular realisation set in.

Suddenly, the EU's concentration on military applications made sense. There was a confirmed existential threat to the human species out there, and only a limited supply of eezo in the possession of the human race. For the moment, there could be no mass exploitation of the new technology. Every ounce of the special material would be needed for exploration and defence. Yet still the EU refused to hand over the technology, stating that its expertise in the matter was vastly greater and that its government viewed itself as the best body for organising planetary defence as the possessor of the most powerful military forces even without the mass effect.

Dennison pounced on this, countering with the idea of a pan-human alliance for the defence of Earth and the exploitation of space. The EU had no right to take sole responsibility for the defence of the motherworld, he argued, and they were failing to exploit the genius of other nations in keeping the mass effect to themselves. Humanity must have one confederal government to oversee space activity. It was an extremely effective message. The aftermath of the Mass Effect Summit disappeared. All other nations on Earth rallied against the EU position. Still, the Europeans refused for months, not trusting other nations to use eezo wisely.

Jon Grissom showed the way. While test-piloting the first all-human exploration vessel, the _ESA Ragnarok_, he made a very close flyby of Pluto and its moons. On the surface of Charon, he spotted a previously uncharted structure. As he changed his orbit to get a better look, his Prothean-derived FTL navigation computer began acting strangely. It kept asking him if he wished to do something, which he could understand. Something other than a regular FTL jump. In the end, his curiosity got the better of him, and he acceded to the computer's request.

Charon split into pieces immediately, revealing a mass relay, its rings moving and pushing the debris of the former moon away. Grissom was forced to flee, as his orbit decayed instantly. The ESA ordered him and his crew to return the day after, to assess the situation and take readings. Upon the arrival of the _Ragnarok_, its FTLcomputer made a second request, this time to use the mass relay. The relays were known about from the Prothean archives, but it had not been known that there was one in Sol itself.

This message was much more clear than the previous one, stating clearly that it was a transition from one star cluster to another. Grissom communicated the news to Space Command Terra, the EU's extraterrestrial military headquarters, and declared his will to use the relay. As his ship was prepared for long-range operations already, he was given authorisation.

Jon Grissom became the first human to use a mass relay, entering the Arcturus System on December 21st 2149. He returned to Sol on the same day after a preliminary exploration of the system. Most importantly, he found more relays. Arturus was a relay nexus, the twin nexus of the Omega relays on the other side of the galaxy no less, although no human could know that yet. News spread quickly to all on Earth, Luna, Mars and Demeter; humanity had a new hero.

Dennison immediately exploited the mass relay announcement, bringing together supporters once more in Washington DC to demand that the EU create an alliance of the nations of Earth. The argument over the limited amount of eezo was now destroyed by the revelation of the mass relays. Limited amounts of eezo were detected in asteroids in Arcturus, and there was the entire galaxy to explore and exploit. Furthermore, the threat of alien attack was even greater, now that it was known they could come from almost anywhere in the galaxy. "Unity is now a necessity of survival," Dennison declared from the steps of Congress.

The European Union finally agreed.

On September 1st 2150, after months of intense negotiations, the Systems Alliance was founded in Geneva. A military compact first and foremost, the EU demanded that it be ruled over by the nations of Earth directly for its first ten years, during which time the constitutional structure of a more democratic government for humanity would be developed.

Space Command Terra was made into a joint military command of all Earth's major powers, the fleets under construction by Europe became the basis for the First, Second and Third Fleets of the Alliance Navy, for which the EU gained considerable financial compensation.

In addition, three strategic Army Troop Commands were created to oversee the coordination of ground forces, although it would be another fifteen years before the formal creation of the Alliance Army Legions and the full integration of army structures under Alliance command.

Humanity had found the unity it required to survive. Animosity between the nations over how it had come to be quickly disappeared, as information regarding the capabilities of the Protheans scared all governments out of any notions of reprisals quickly. The species began to pull together like never before, out of fear and pride.

Dennison was quickly forgotten as the Alliance prepared for first contact, deliberately so. The EU refused him the position of Chief Political Officer of the Alliance itself, opting instead for the South American Franco Fratala. He did not mind so much, and instead turned his attentions to campaigning for fair division of future colonies, successfully organising the First Colonisation Congress in Versailles in 2151, an act for which is he far better remembered. He would die in a shuttle accident along with a number of his other relatives on the eve of the First Contact War in 2157, having no idea how much of a contribution he had made to humanity's inevitable victory.

* * *

_Galactic Government before First Contact_

By the time of the First Contact War, the Citadel Council had been in existence for nearly two thousand, seven hundred years. To humans, this seems like an impossibly long period of continuous government. Many of the powers of Earth could not claim to be even five hundred years old. For instance, the European Union was in its second iteration, the first existing from the 1950s until the mid 2020s, reforming in the middle of the 21st Century as new threats arose. Its great rival, the Pan-Asian Coalition, had not even lasted a single century.

However, in examination of the Citadel system before First Contact, it is important to note that to the asari, the Council was only coming into its maturity. Only four generation of asari have passed from maiden to matriarch since its foundation, yet fifty have passed since the beginning of the asari enlightenment. The asari formed and shaped the Citadel Council in ways that no other species possibly could have. Their huge lifespans and cultural inclination towards exogamy and diplomatic solutions had allowed them to dominate the institution. Their innately conservative, gradualist outlook has been a hallmark of the Council's modus operandi from the very beginning.

For the most part, this attitude had served all three of the major races well. Neither the turians nor the salarians were culturally inclined to taking great leaps in the dark, having their own sort of conservative ideas regarding governmental hierarchy and the form of war respectively. Of course, the asari gradualist instinct also failed spectacularly on occasion. Allowing the uplift of the krogan and attempting to slowly integrate them into galactic society, counting on time to temper their barbarism, was a disastrous grand strategy. The krogan themselves adopted a similar attitude to grab as much territory as they possibly could, while the asari appeased them in an attempt both to avoid war and to bring them closer culturally to the rest of the galaxy.

Despite this strategic blunder, asari leadership of the Council was reinforced by the Krogan Rebellions, as responsibility for the uplift of the krogans was placed with the salarians alone. Human historians take a dim view of the mainstream galactic opinion in this regard, perhaps rightly seeing the asari as the true arbiters of things. Regardless, the integration of the turians into the Citadel Council was a masterstroke that made up for all the damage done by the krogan. Furthermore, the turians and salarians were easily played off against one another.

For centuries after the Rebellions, colonisation and suppression of the numerous lawless areas was the priority of the Council. The war had created a particular mindset that was kept alive by the asari throughout the many years until First Contact. By the 2150s, the veterans of the krogan conflict were dead but almost all of the asari leadership had mothers that had fought. Along with turian military culture that preached much the same thing, the Council took to defending only what it could. Using its increasingly powerful navies and armies for rapid expansion was not possible. Consolidation followed by careful colonisation of existing clusters was the name of the game.

By the time of the Morning War, this refusal to intervene in the affairs of non-Citadel controlled space had become almost cult-like, and it was becoming increasingly dangerous. With the occupation of the quarian worlds by the geth and the use of their huge fleets for refugee housing, the last counterbalance in the Terminus was removed. The pirates and warlords, already growing strong in the vacuum created by Citadel refusals to act, became fully fledged kleptocracies. In 1980CE, less than a century after the exile of the quarians from the Perseus Veil, Aria T'loak seized power on Omega. With that act, she was ushering in a new era. From that point onwards, the collective power of the Terminus warlords could challenge the Citadel, at least on the defensive.

For the asari and salarians, this was no particular problem. They had no desire to conquer the Terminus, and their extensive contacts throughout the region allowed them to exploit the natural resources to be found there without the need of expensive governance. T'loak herself cultivated close ties with the majority faction of matriarchs at the heart of the asari embassy, which allowed her to join the cabal of eezo producers to set prices galaxy-wide. Meanwhile, the batarians flooding in were courted by the salarian STG, granting an extensive early-alert system to the dalatrasses against any threats that might emerge from lawless space.

But for the turians, the Terminus situation was a different issue, and it had nothing to do with the constant piracy or the abuse of sentient creatures. Their territory did not border the Traverse in the first place. Their problem with the lawless region struck far closer to home. From the very beginning of turian colonisation of the stars, the Hierarchy had to deal with the problem of separatism. Turians simply refused to cohere to a single political system, and yet unlike asari and human customs, they also refused peaceful settlement of the questions arising from that. The independence of the Terminus created a training ground and sanctuary for elements within turian society that saw the Hierarchy as decadent or as the centre of repression of turian nations.

Without the support of the asari and salarians for a war of conquest, the Turian Hierarchy became the head advocates for isolation or even quarantine of the Terminus. More and more, they regarded engagement or exploitation of the region without adequate government control as reckless. Instead, they increasingly turned to regions of space closer to home, star clusters that had been discovered just prior to contact with the Citadel but never explored. The asari and salarians allowed this, provided that it was done gradually and with due regard for opening up new threats. Much of the space became the 'new colonies' of the Hierarchy, but the great majority made up what would become the core clusters of the Systems Alliance.

The new efforts did not suppress separatist feeling among turians to a degree that satisfied the top levels of the Hierarchy, and even the asari were beginning to grow concerned by the depth of intra-species hatred. The turians' empire was never larger, never more prosperous, but the peaceful and sedentary nature of its new golden age ran against the grain of turian identity itself. By the 2100s, the turians were looking for a war.

**The Council of Three,** _Citadel Galactic Community, _

At the time of First Contact, the three councillors were Linea, Troenus, Zaleeh.

Linea T'posa was a famously conciliatory politician, even for an asari. She was the architect of the deal that allowed the turians to colonise their previously explored clusters, trading that concession for greater salarian exploitation of the dense belts of clusters close to the galactic core. The entire agreement was technically illegal under Citadel law, as both the proposed salarian and turian sectors had been the subject of only the most cursory explorations. She felt that they had been explored at all was sufficient loophole to allow it, even over the objections of the batarians, as it brought the Big Three species closer together.

However, she did not just believe in unity among the major powers, but wished for all sentient species with the mass effect to accept Citadel government. In return for their own signature of the agreement, the batarians were allowed to colonise further into the outer edges of the galaxy with the assistance of Citadel explorator flotillas.

In sharp contrast, Councillor Troenus Palavar was a hard-headed patriotic zealot. He was appointed with some degree of controversy in 2154CE, and he was very much regarded as a concession to the war party's desire for military conflict. He spent most of his time lobbying the other councillors for action in the Traverse. Linea found his prejudices and attitudes relatively easy to exploit, and even allowed a limited campaign in the western Traverse against a group of turian pirates operating out of the Nemean Abyss. That satisfied some turians, those who saw the separatists as traitors, but the craving for glory against a foreign foe was larger. Troenus was among them, and he viewed the batarians, with their dysfunctional government and fresh colonies, as a good target. Had humanity not encountered the turians at Relay 314, it is likely that the batarians would have been coaxed into declaring war by the turian militarists.

Standing aloof from the diplomatic Linea and the militaristic Troenus was Councillor-Dalatrass Zaleeh. The highest ranked salarian ever to hold the position of Councillor, she was sent for one purpose alone; to restrain the other two. The salarians had long feared both the dominance of the asari and the militarism of the turians, and since the end of the Morning War, had sought to keep the other two species from gaining any particular advantages. They had adopted a policy that required unanimity for the Council to act. Where the turians and asari disagreed, the salarians would tend to abstain. Zaleeh took this policy and made it absolute. There could be no policy changes unless the Salarian Union benefited.

The three species played each other off, the asari and turians outvoting the salarians on the military expedition in the Traverse, Linea outmanoeuvring both the salarians and the turians to deliver their new territories without infighting, the turians pushing at every moment for action and succeeding on occasion. Each species was their own sovereignty, and the Council was only allowed to act where there was an overlap. How humanity could have been dealt with, with such dynamics in play, is the subject of great speculation even today, and how they were in fact dealt with remains hugely controversial.


	48. FIRST CONTACT: Strategy

STRATEGY

**_The Turian Hierarchy_**

Turian military strategy in the first half of the 2100s CE can be described in three words; cautious, methodical and relentless.

Its caution was entirely the joint product of the Krogan Rebellions and turian separatism, a trait that descended from the very highest levels down to the company level. This in turn led to the methodical approach applied to every aspect of the turian military, with tactical approaches to any military problem having been boiled down and practised on. Turian military manuals remain famously large tomes to this day, and have only expanded in the face of humanity's arrival and the threat of the Reapers. Naturally, this methodical approach limited the ability of turian commanders to take the initiative, despite decentralised control of artillery and air assets. However, this was not and is not considered a problem. The turians do not rely on breakthroughs and seizing lucky chances. Instead, they are utterly relentless, never giving up, using their superior discipline to protect them from excessive casualties.

That is not to say that the turians are so predictable. The number of options they consider before acting is just as large as any human commander would consider. The issue of debate all these decades later is that the turians' strategy had remained utterly static for centuries, and specific strategy regarding a first contact scenario had not been developed. How could the turians have so badly misjudged the capability of humanity to strike back? How did they turn an early victory on Shanxi into a series of embarrassing defeats?

Citadel laws and protocols regarding the same situations were inconsistent and old, a mix of fear generated by the rachni and the hope of finding another species willing to contribute like the turians. Whichever outcome was required or indeed wanted by the initiating species could be legally supported. This is the reason why turians could legally fire on the unknown ships attempting to access Relay 314, even if the humans on board had no idea about Citadel laws. It is also why salarians might not have fired, fearing quite correctly that it would start a new war, and why the asari almost certainly would not have fired, preferring their hopes of a new ally to nightmares of another centuries-long conflict.

That the turians would choose to engage someone flagrantly breaking the law is considered a certainty by historians of all species. The internal crisis of the turian people was reaching new heights just as humanity's rapid expansion began, and the Turian Navy was filled with officers who would rather have fought aliens than their own people. It did not matter who they fought, someone would eventually feel the full wrath of the Hierarchy.

Palaven Command began assuming that the war would be with the Batarian Hegemony, and prepared accordingly.

The strategy they settled on played to their expectations of the batarians, then still a formidable military actor even if they were still only a minor power when all things were taken into account.

In terms of population, the batarians were not far behind the Hierarchy. Turian population growth had long been stunted due to the weight of military service on the younger sections of the populace, and natalist measures were accessible only after retirement at age 30. By contrast, the strong gender roles and emphasis on dynastic pride in batarian society meant unchecked population growth in every sector of society that could afford to have children. For the turians, this meant several things. In ground engagements on the offence, their forces would almost certainly be outnumbered. In terms of military production, the batarians would be able to keep themselves armed for longer than their otherwise meagre economy might suggest. The turians themselves were dependent on other Citadel species to keep them armed, and on the volus for keeping them in good finances to do so.

The turians had no desire to commit genocide. It was viewed as wasteful, and it was likely to be considered criminal by the asari, whom could put the Hierarchy into very dire financial straits in a matter of hours if displeased. This meant that simply dropping asteroids on the tougher batarian colonies, or bombarding them into submission with naval assets, was out of the question. They would have to be taken, a daunting task for any military. The turians did not then possess titans or drop-pods capable of being launched from orbit, making any landing a highly risky venture against protected targets.

Making matters worse was the relay problem. The route followed by the Alliance's Tower Bridge project of 2178 into the Hegemony via the Skyllian Verge was not in reach. The star clusters it started in were not explored by any species until the start of 2158. The Citadel would not authorise exploration. Worse, unlike the three relays that the Alliance could have used to attack the Kite's Nest and its nearby clusters, two were also in unexplored regions, unknown to turian intelligence. At the time, the only relay leading to batarian space was at the 'northern' edge of the Verge, in salarian space. This is the reason why the salarians were able to glean so many contacts among the batarian exiles and expatriates in the Terminus.

There was no question that the Salarian Union would allow the passage of turian fleets to attack the Hegemony, but having only a single relay to attack through was a huge risk. Forcing passage could result in huge losses if the batarians were aware of the attack beforehand, and roaming privateers or wolfpacks could stake out the bottleneck even if the assault was successful. The turians had faced exactly the same circumstances during the Krogan Rebellions. Fanatical krogan pirates had been known to launch near-suicidal attacks against turian convoys as they exited into relay jumpzones. The turians had little doubt that the batarian defence of their home clusters would be equally fanatical.

In response to these particular factors, the turian strategists were able to apply the same moves they had used against the krogan.

If war was declared, or if an incident prompted necessary aggression, turian forces would assault the relay and seize the nearest garden world. Local resistance would be pacified, and the garden world itself turned into bait. Unable to resist due to their fanaticism and patriotism, it was expected that batarian fleets and armies would be immediately dispatched to relieve the seized world, presenting ample opportunity to spring a trap. This would allow the elimination of significant parts of the defending forces, thus easing the way for the next wave of turian attacks to follow up.

Of course, human historians have debated the wisdom of assuming the batarians would indeed flock to retake a colony world they had lost, rather than hiding behind the next set of relays. Such criticisms would indeed be valid if Arch-Hegemon Ar'dra had been in power at the time, but the Hegemony had yet to slip into the hands of a single tyrant. What the Council of Greaters in 2157 would have done in such a scenario is impossible to know, and is alas the subject of great conjecture. Salarian historiography in particular places great doubt on the success of such a gambit, giving the batarian noble castes much credit for their guile.

The strategy was honed for five years through continuous exercises, under the pretext of fighting a colonial rebellion by turian elements. Only commanding officers of cruiser squadrons and above knew that they were in fact practising to fight the Hegemony, those below being told it was a new general strategy.

After Relay 314, it is quite easy to see the part-implementation of this strategy. The seizure of Shanxi was the direct result of it, as was the wait for the human counterattack. However, the turians in direct control of the forces involved were not operating in full conjunction with their own forces back home. They also gravely underestimated the ability of humanity to strike back. This would be their undoing.

* * *

STRATEGY

**_The Systems Alliance_**

Humanity faced a grave problem as it entered the 2150s, one that was unavoidable and potentially lethal to the entire enterprise of the species. It had never before fought a war in space. In fact, until 2156, it would not face a hostile foe in vacuum, and even then, pirates flying upgunned cargo vessels and shuttles were hardly worthy opponents. The first combat kill by an Alliance pilot is disputed between three officers, one of whom is the famous test pilot and commander of deterrence frigates, Mari Stokke.

As such, even as humanity's fleets were being constructed, it had no idea how to use them. From the foundation of the Systems Alliance, war games and strategic theory were extremely important. The starbase at Arcturus became the centre for this activity. Here, humanity collected her greatest military and scientific minds. Naval and airforce experts from all major powers on Earth, physicists, engineers, and accountants, all the people necessary to shape the new Alliance Navy into something that could deter or defeat foes that would undoubtedly have all the material advantages. Together, they would work out what the Alliance fleets would be composed of, how they would act in battle, how they would manoeuvre on the strategic and operational scales, and how they would interact with battles on planetary bodies. Huge numbers of simulators were built to test the pilots in real time virtual battles, a necessity as many of the ships they would fly had yet to be built.

What the fleets would consist of was decided more or less in the first month. Humanity had the great advantage of discovering the ruins on Mars at the furthest point of technology possible _without_ knowledge and exploitation of the mass effect. What took the asari centuries and the other species decades to use for military applications in space took mere months for humans, not out of any particular racial superiority but rather the lack of readily observable Prothean installations. No doubt if the mass effect had been discovered earlier, the process would have been more difficult.

Most of the vessels would be cruisers or frigates by necessity. The European Union had already designed a highly efficient cruiser in the Geneva-class, more or less a copy of a Prothean ship found wrecked in a hold on Mars. From this, human naval designers scaled up and down. Frigates, heavy frigates, and heavy cruisers were all derived from it. It allowed for the sharing of a great many parts between designs, something that humanity has perfected to an art form since. The 'bow and arrow' shape of the ships would become iconic in the 2150s and early 2160s, until the newer classes were put into service. Only the dreadnought and carrier class designs, the cruiser class ships not scaling well past heavy cruiser tonnages and being unsuitable for use as carriers.

Of course, it is the use of carriers which was humanity's greatest immediate contribution to galactic affairs. There is a great deal of consensus among naval theorists of all species about why humanity was able to conceptualise such craft and why other species could not.

The nature of the other species and their homeworlds vis-a-vis humanity and Earth is the first factor agreed upon. Seventy percent of Earth's surface is covered with water, and it divides the continents in significant ways.

Palaven and Rannoch are both significantly more arid, lacking both large oceans that disconnect the landmasses and forests of trees large enough to facilitate early naval development. This is why both turians and quarians are evolutionary descendants of rock climbing species, and is also why neither had naval traditions to equal their armies' own until after the discovery of the mass effect. Thessia and Sur'kesh equal and almost equal Earth's water coverage, but both have much more equal land distribution, resulting in extensive island chains and mangroves on the former and large forested continents connected by isthmuses on the latter. Quarians and turians never had oceans of a size that would require aircraft carriers. Asari and salarians could always find an island in range of the enemy to park their airforces on, and the asari only rarely engaged in warfare on their homeworld on such a scale after their Technological Enlightenment. By contrast, human nations have needed to fight across the vastness of the Atlantic, Indian, and most of all, the Pacific Ocean.

The military experiences of the various species is the second factor. Not only did humanity have the opportunity afforded by the geography of their homeworld, but the wars fought specifically required the development of the carrier. In wars between European, Asian or African nations, carriers were never an absolute necessity. Just as on Thessia or Sur'Kesh, there was always somewhere close enough to land aircraft. The real problem came when there were hostilities between two powers across the largest ocean, the United States and the Empire of Japan separated by the Pacific Ocean. The Second World War, the largest war in human history before the Cold War, embedded the concept in the human psyche forever. Even countries that did not really require carriers considered them a necessity for any 'blue water navy', a symbol as much of prestige as real power.

By contrast, not even the experiences of the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions gave any cause for Citadel species to develop carriers. The hardest battles in those conflicts were across relay jumpzones, where it was thought that the dreadnought was the queen of battle, not the fighter-bomber. Dedicated carrier ships for fighters was simply a waste of space, as one could fit a dreadnought in the exact same space and still carry significant numbers of fighters along with it. A relay jumpzone is tiny, relative to the space around it. However, humanity had a good appreciation of this, and upgunned its own carriers with broadside weapons after extensive simulations. Not only could a human carrier make a contested relay jump and survive, but it could then go on to fight dreadnoughts in a broadside engagement on equal terms.

The last factor agreed upon that allowed humans to develop carriers was their attitude towards military risk. Among the Citadel species, only the batarians subscribed to the concept of fighters making independent attacks against anything larger than frigates. The risk of being shot down by GARDIAN batteries was high, particularly as none of the Citadel species had developed EXALT weapons that allowed fighters to engage outside of the range of point defences. As such, the asari completely dismissed the concept as unacceptably wasteful, save for drone attacks. The salarians, turians and quarians used their fighters in direct support of frigates, both to screen them from enemy fighter attack and to boost the power of wolfpack assaults. The Alliance Navy and its sea-going predecessors had little problem with the risks of fighter attacks, having both the weapons to keep the fighters in relative safety and the societal discipline to accept losses.

As such, humanity viewed the carrier as equal in importance to the dreadnought, and the first production runs on both were started at the same time. Their use was wargamed heavily, particularly 2156 and 2157 as the fleet began to take shape in reality. By the time of Shanxi, how they would be used and how their fighter wings would be used was honed to a fine point.

Beyond the fleets was the general plan for First Contact. There were three scenarios, marked Green, Yellow and Red. Green was for the eventuality that friendly aliens would be encountered, and large elements of it would be used in the post-First Contact era for defence of the immediate clusters under humanity's control. Green Plan was largely defensive in nature, with a great emphasis of surveillance and reconnaissance, attempts to detect subterfuge or deception on the part of the 'friendly' aliens being at the fore. Yellow Plan was to be implemented if aliens didn't really care about a new species on the block. This was considered the least likely possibility, but was drawn up after scientists pointed out that aliens could be millions of years ahead of humanity, and could present so large a threat that they might not even bother to attack. Yellow consisted of keeping humanity's efforts confined to uninhabited regions, and cordoning off relay jumpzones to alien sectors.

Red Plan was the one that was implemented ultimately, after the Battle of Relay 314, the Siege of Shanxi and the Battle of Xi'an Valley. It consisted of aggressive, proactive counterattacks, to push the front of the war away from Earth and grab territory with which to negotiate a peace settlement. If no peace settlement was forthcoming, then Plan Black would be implemented, consisting of a relay-by-relay defence all the way back to Sol, designed to sap the strength of any invading force.

No one in the Alliance was under any illusions about the odds. The exploration efforts were stepped up. Relays that led to systems with no inhabitable world were seeded with space stations, Arcturus being the most notable and most important of these. Those with garden worlds were immediately colonised, to set up humanity's legal claim to them. This was arranged by the First and Second Colonisation Congresses, whereby the 'nexus' worlds were shared equally between the major powers of Earth, and the Alliance Colonisation Committee established to divide worlds within clusters outside of relay systems.

Shanxi was the nexus world of one such colonisation cluster, placed under the jurisdiction of the European Union. The EU were granted the largest number of worlds, not only due to possessing the largest population but also due to the wrecked state of Asia in the aftermath of the Cold War. The continent had been in a continuous period of unrest for more than ten years, easing only as citizens began to leave. Shanxi itself was chosen for resettlement of EU-occupied North East China and a smaller number of Polish settlers. Both were victims of the climate and the war, and both needed a fresh start. Located in the 'north-west' sector and having multiple relays in-system, it was always destined to be an important point in early colonisation.

The purpose of this rush was twofold: find and keep the aliens as far from Earth as possible, and grab territory for resource exploitation quickly. In the latter purpose, it succeeded. Eezo was found in more than enough quantities to back construction of ships, and even civilian applications in the mid-2150s. However, it did not keep the aliens away. It drew their attention.


	49. FIRST CONTACT: The Commanders

_ALERT: Minor spoilers for the main series in this chapter. Nothing earth-shattering, but I felt it polite to mention it._

* * *

THE COMMANDERS

_The Turian Hierarchy_

The decentralised nature of turian military command has been identified by human theorists as a key weakness that led to the eventual outcome of the First Contact War, but it is remarked upon the one thing that kept the turians from collapsing completely by their own historians. Regardless of the truth of this, there was no single person in control of turian forces in the combat sector, or even on Shanxi itself.

This was not only the fault of turian organisational preference, but also the means by which the war started. Turian forces at Relay 314 had opened fire without higher command authorisation. Follow up engagements occurred with a similar lack of direct political guidance behind them. Itching for war, military commanders began preparing their own forays into the space of humanity. The politicians allowed this, as it immediately improved

It was only at Shanxi that some semblance of real coordination began, as the discovery of what was thought to be a major colony required it.

* * *

_**General Desolus Arterius**, __Commanding Officer, New Territories_

The man most responsible for both the Battle of Relay 314 and the Siege of Shanxi is Desolus Arterius. The brother of Saren Arterius, his place in history has been greatly overshadowed both by his sibling's betrayal of the Citadel and by the wish of turians to forget the key figures of the war. His family was not particularly important, and he himself was promoted to the highest level any member of it had ever reached. The fact that Arterius only ever directly commanded a special forces company for the duration of combat on Shanxi and beyond suggests that his role was of little consequence. However, any true study of the events of 2157 would be remiss in excluding him.

Arterius was a sectoral general, a position at the twenty-third tier of the Turian Hierarchy and the highest command rank that remained purely military, outside the scope of administration. Sectoral generals are the direct military subordinates of the primarchs, who themselves rule colonisation clusters. In the case of Arterius, he was in command of defence of the 'New Territories' under the oversight of Primarch Faruc Reloranus.

The New Territories were the name for all the territory granted to the Hierarchy under the deal crafted by Councillor Linea T'posa, the majority of which would become humanity's core colonisation sectors. The parts that did not were the subject of great activity in the years leading up to contact. No less than four garden worlds had been discovered, of which three possessed dextro-amino life. The star clusters around these were explored thoroughly and marked as the possessions of the turian people, and almost all efforts were poured into developing them first before the next stage. This was in accordance with the agreement with the asari and salarians, both of whom were watching developments very closely.

That is not to say that no efforts at all were put into seeing just what else the Hierarchy now possessed. Arterius himself was at the head of a military push for further exploration. He turned down six promotions in other sectors, waiting to get his chance to command in the New Territories. Evidence procured from Cerberus in 2186 suggests that he did so as the result of subtle Reaper indoctrination due to exposure to previously unknown alien artefacts. The beginning of his thirst for exploration coincides with the beginning of human use of the mass relay network, suggesting that the Reapers recognised that a new player had entered the galactic scene and contact would be required to bring them to their technological peak. At the time, it was simply thought that Arterius was a zealot of the patriotic anti-secession faction, and he saw the explorations as a challenge to help unite his people.

Regardless of the Reapers' involvement, Arterius was promoted to his favoured post in 2156. He immediately ordered two things. First of all, exploration of claimed clusters was to be greatly expanded. This would lead to the discovery of two more garden worlds, both levo-amino, and would bring great prestige to the Arterius name. Secondly, unopened relays within the New Territories were to be patrolled. This was to satisfy the Citadel Accords rule against uncharted transrelay exploration, but also to prevent the Batarian Hegemony from capitalising on the stability brought by turian arms to the region. The Hegemony had itself expanded in the years before First Contact, and was looking for a back route through salarian space into the Skyllian Verge.

It was the second order that would lead directly to war.

Arterius' role would not end in merely setting up the conflict. After the Battle at Relay 314, it was he who directed turian naval assets to search and destroy, resulting the flurry of small engagements that succeeded in pushing the Alliance Navy's Third Fleet all the way back to Shanxi, and eventually even further. Once that was complete, he sought and gained political support for orbital and ground operations against Shanxi itself, remaining the figurehead commander for the entire duration of the siege and occupation.

Despite this role, he did not take direct control of combat operations once he had initiated them. This was a subject of much controversy even at the time, especially among those that were placed with direct responsibility for operations. It is now known this was because yet more Reaper artefacts had been discovered in the same cluster as Shanxi, and the shuttle carrying them was shot down over the colony. His attention shifted to recovering them, and in the course of doing so, he would be briefly captured by human mercenaries. Among them was Jack Harper, the future leader of Cerberus. Harper, better known as the Illusive Man, is thought to have been first indoctrinated during his contact with the artefacts while in Arterius' hands.

* * *

_**General Dava Orinia**, __Commanding Officer, Turian 43__rd__ Marine Division_

The officer that would take direct command over the fighting on and above Shanxi was Dava Orinia. In this, she was operating above her pay grade. She was merely a divisional commander, at the eighteenth rank in the Hierarchy, and neither rank were typically assigned to command of entire planetary campaigns. Despite this, she has come to be regarded as highly competent and within her element by turians. Alliance assessment of her abilities was long tainted by her actions on Shanxi, until the beginning of the Reaper War, when her actions redeemed her to a large degree in human eyes.

Orinia began her military service as all able-minded and able-bodied turians do, conscripted at fifteen and trained for total war. Her service record indicates that she was above-average in many respects, but not considered a genius. Her rise through the ranks was rapid at first. It took her only a few months to be assigned as an NCO. However, this slowed as she climbed, and it took her seven years to reach the rank of divisional commander. It has been suggested that this had more to do with politics than her military abilities. Unlike Arterius, members of her family had reached the higher political and administrative ranks before. Turian sources refuse to comment, preferring to maintain that their system of government prohibits such corruption, and so we do not know why exactly her rise was delayed.

Regardless, Orinia was widely considered to be the perfect candidate to lead the initial assault on an alien world, against a foe that no turian ground commander had ever faced before. Aside from her division's own merits, of which there were many, she had a reputation for swift improvisation in the face of new and unexpected threats. This had been demonstrated repeatedly in anti-piracy operations in the lead-up to contact, and Orinia was the recipient of several commendations in those years. Even before it was known what exactly would be found on Shanxi, this was considered an essential trait by the generals and politicians above her, and their appreciation for these talents only grew as the Alliance unveiled more and more nasty surprises.

Orinia's initial plan for Shanxi would lack complexity, a reflection of her suspicion that anything more complex than an outline would be confounded by the changing realities on the ground. As such, standard turian procedure for the seizure and occupation of a hostile garden world was implemented directly from the book.

The orbital and naval defences were to be eliminated by overwhelming force, provided by flotillas of the turian Seventh Fleet. Landings followed by assaults on settlements would follow. Again, standard turian procedure was king. Anyone not wishing to fight would be directed to a safe zone at the outskirts of each settlement by hastati squads going door-to-door, and anyone refusing to move would be eliminated systematically. This concept was well understood by all known galactic species, although the asari disapproved of its brutality. Contrary to some assertions, the intent was not ethnic cleansing but conflict resolution. Once the settlements were secure, larger forces could land to begin searching the countryside for combatants, and so put an end to formal combat operations. Orinia was supposed be relieved of overall command at this stage.

As it would occur however, she would not be, and the events at Shanxi remain the subject of much debate. The conduct of turian forces both during the siege and the occupation, and Orinia's own reaction to the Alliance counterattack, have been dissected numerous times by scholars and soldiers alike. All that is agreed upon is that Orinia was the key figure on the turian side.

* * *

_The Systems Alliance_

The human hierarchy of command was only marginally less messy than that of the turians, but had the advantage of a much more vertical structure.

At the foundation of the Systems Alliance, two military institutions were created; the Alliance Navy and the Alliance Army High Command. The Alliance Navy had very clear chains of command, and did not reflect the various sovereignties on Earth. This was intended, both to allow the exploitation of high technical expertise and to prevent any one state from gaining a decisive advantage in space over the others. It had the unintended benefit of allowing the Navy to plan and carry out operations regardless of what the politicians were saying, in the event of war with aliens.

By contrast, the Alliance Army did not truly exist in 2157. The only personnel loyal entirely to the Alliance as an institution were generals and headquarters staff. These were selected on the same basis as the Alliance Navy, with no regard for national origin. This tradition of cosmopolitanism at the top has continued to the present day, most notably allowing a South African like Cassandra DeRuyter to command Troop Command Europa. The similarities between the two organisations ended there. National militaries provided all the combat and logistics personnel, and remained separate from the Alliance in peacetime.

Only in the event of war with extraterrestrial powers would the Alliance High Command have any authority. As such, the officers of note during the war were not only from the Alliance, and the confusion over jurisdiction would hamper the initial defence.

* * *

_**Admiral Kastanie Drescher**, __Commanding Officer, Alliance Second Fleet_

Known to history as the 'Victor of Shanxi', Kastanie Drescher is perhaps the woman most responsible for humanity's continued independence and existence, the key figure standing at the key point in history, fighting perhaps the most important single engagement in the history of the galaxy. Not since Miltiades led the hoplites of Athens and Plataea onto the plains of Marathon was there ever such a moment pregnant with destiny. Indeed, cosmologicalist historians say that the latter was the inevitable start point for the former, that Drescher's victory was the end point in a story that began 2,600 years before. The chances both commanders took were equally audacious. Like the Greeks, at Shanxi humanity faced an enemy it knew little about and had not truly defeated yet.

Drescher was a European of Franco-German descent. She was born in 2120, in Alsace, to Elodie Drescher, an author. School records indicate a strong preference for literature and art from the very youngest age, and had it not been for greater events, perhaps the young Kastanie would have followed in her mother's footsteps. Like many of the people born in that era, the shadow of rapid climate change would fall across her life. By 2138, relations between the PAC and the EU had degraded. Terrorist attacks sponsored by the other side were increasingly commonplace. In April of that year, a café in Strasbourg was bombed in an attempt by separatists from North Africa to kill a military official. The attempt failed in its objective, but Elodie Drescher was among the dead.

This was the spark that forced Kastanie into the European military, a narrative that her mother would have no doubt appreciated from a literary standpoint. Not of great physical stature and lacking genetic enhancements that allowed other women to serve in the Army, she joined the Joint European Navy. After standardised testing, she was assigned to the naval air wings as a fighter pilot candidate, completing her training in June 2139. The Cold War broke out soon afterwards, and Drescher spent the war at sea and in the air, piloting aircraft from the decks of the carrier _Charlemagne_. She fought mostly in the Indian Ocean, keeping the Pan Asian Navy bottled up away from the Red Sea and the African coast. Her fighter wing was also the first to respond to the PAC attack on the leased airbase on Wake Island, helping to repulse the dual titan-amphibious assault.

By the war's end, Drescher had reached the rank of Commander, due in part to the high attrition rates towards the later stages but also as a reflection of her aggression. The European High Command found her to be one of the ideal candidates to plan and lead their new military programmes. It was Drescher who suggested the use of and commanded the prototype cruiser _Styx_ on its flight to intimidate world leaders over Hawaii, although this was only revealed in 2179 as a result of the EU's Thirty Year Rule on declassification. The effectiveness of the action in quelling world dissent, however temporarily, placed the commander in high regard to her political masters.

When Space Command Terra was formally created, Drescher was selected to formulate the doctrines and principles by which it should operate. Her experience in both aerial and naval warfare was deemed to be a vital asset for the development of Europe's space-navy, and for the defence of Earth from alien threats. Little changed when the Systems Alliance was formed in 2150, except that she found herself joined by Jon Grissom. The two worked well together, both having backgrounds as military pilots.

Together, Drescher and Grissom oversaw the creation of the Alliance Navy in its entirety; the recruitment of personnel, the construction of ships, the formulation of strategies and tactics. By 2155, the Alliance Council promoted them both to Admiral. This promotion came largely as a recognition of the amount of work done by the two officers, but also as the solution to a political problem. The status of higher ranked naval and air force officers was controversial; most had served in the Cold War at a similar level and had to answer for actions during that conflict.

Drescher was assigned the Second Fleet, the force designated to take the fight to the alien should it become necessary, and she was intent on making sure that all possible measures had been taken. The Second Fleet was drilled hard, both in space and in simulations, even after the immediate outbreak of hostilities at Relay 314 and during the Siege of Shanxi itself. Actual combat experience was scarce, and so the Admiral sought to replace it with continuous exercises. This was not unusual even for Citadel forces, as no major wars had been fought for centuries. Contrary to some popular tellings, the battle to come was not of inexperienced amateurs bravely fighting off crack naval specialists.

The turian naval commanders were barely more experienced than their Alliance counterparts, and the collective experience of the human race in naval operations had unique advantages. Advantages that Drescher would exploit. It soon became clear that the turians either had not deployed or did not possess carrier-type starships. To boot, humanity found that it had superior torpedo technology, especially with regard to range and target acquisition. Drescher would seize on these, and deliver a minor but politically-shattering defeat to the turians.

* * *

_**General Leyland Williams**, __Commanding Officer, Alliance Shanxi Headquarters_

Leyland Williams is a name reviled in human popular culture, his person an example of precisely the opposite spirit to that shown by other officers. This is perhaps greatly bolstered by the actions of his most famous subordinate, Colonel Ryan. Much as the turians would have many reasons to forget Desolus Arterius, humanity would have just as many to forget Williams. Yet this would not happen, partially because Williams would survive the war and partially due to the actions of his granddaughter, Ashley Williams, who would go on to redeem the family name as humanity's second Spectre. Alien opinions of Williams are far more positive, the prevailing attitude being that he could not have done anything other than what he did. Opinion among human historians certainly does acknowledge the difficulties faced by the general, but does not absolve him completely.

Williams was born in 2102, in the state of California, USA. His country faced great upheaval in the early years of the 22nd Century. The North American Union was challenged by secession, resulting in such events as the bombing of the Statue of Liberty by Canadian terrorists, and the supranational state collapsed after a brief civil war. As such, he grew up during a new wave of American patriotic fervour. He enlisted the United States Army in 2124, after completing a four year college programme at UCLA in Political Science. He made the jump from enlisted personnel to lieutenant in 2127, and saw his first action as a Captain during the Second Carribean Intervention in 2130. He climbed the ranks steadily, becoming a major just as the Cold War began.

Williams' service in the final world war of Earth was largely the reason why he eventually found himself on Shanxi. The United States entered the western theatre of the conflict to aid the Mexican Republic against the aggression of the South American Federation, after the latter had swallowed up the central American states.

The two countries created joint operations brigades at the very beginning of the war, including one amphibious one nicknamed the Sea Snakes. Williams was placed in command of one of that brigade's companies. Half of the platoons were Mexican and the other half were American. At first, the brigade was assigned to regular front duties on the Pacific Coast of Central America, but soon found itself at the very tip of the spear during the Venezuela Offensive. The brigade would serve in Venezuela and northern Brazil for the rest of the war, suffering atrocious casualties, including many more senior officers. By war's end, Williams was in command of the entire brigade, promoted on the field to full-bird colonel and looking at brigadier-general in mere weeks had the intervention of the European Union not occurred.

Williams spent the time between the end of the war and the foundation of the Systems Alliance on desk duty, out of a wish to spend as much time with his family as possible. He was not forgotten however, especially not in Mexican and American military circles. When candidates for 'Coordinating Generals' were being discussed, his name was at the top of the list presented by the United States and Mexico. He was offered a generous land grant on America's first extrasolar colony, Sirona. He agreed, and moved his entire extended family to the colony. His equally famous granddaughter would be born there nine months after the beginning of the First Contact War.

Williams and the other generals assigned to Alliance Army HQ had far less leeway to prepare for contact with alien species than Drescher and Grissom had. In fact, for the most part, they acted as go-betweens for the Alliance Navy and the high commands of the national militaries. That is not to say this role was unimportant, however. The Navy's instinct was to amalgamate the national armies entirely, preferably under its own wing. This meant that Williams and others were included directly in discussions on how best to defend Earth and its new colonies. Williams and Grissom, both American, worked closely together on the initial defence plan for Shanxi itself, as well as a whole host of other worlds and relays.

When the battle at Relay 314 began, Williams was immediately sent to take command of forces sent to Shanxi at short notice. Unlike the Navy, the armies of Earth were in complete disarray due to the political disagreements over how to handle the revealed alien threat. As such, Williams did not receive enough forces to defend Shanxi with, although those units that were sent were of the highest quality. He would deploy them primarily in defence of populated areas rather than defending industry or resources, including sending the US Marines to Xi'an Valley. That decision was perhaps the most fateful for the siege, as the commanding officer of the Marines was not a man to lay down his arms.

* * *

_**Colonel Edward Ryan**,__ Commanding Officer, United States Colonial Marine Expeditionary Force (CMEF)_

Colonel Ryan is known by every human as the man who would not surrender to the aliens, a figure of great renown to all but the most pacifistic, and an example to follow for human supremacists. He is the mirror image of General Williams with respect to his reputation in history. He was not a family man, he did not rise through the ranks steadily, and he was not fond of operating in tandem with the militaries of other countries. Williams himself would later say that Ryan was "a bastard, but a glorious bastard at least."

Ryan's military records have been largely destroyed. The Alliance Army has claimed that this was the fault of poor maintenance of the servers and the destruction caused by the Reapers to the Military Archives. However, significant evidence of deliberate tampering, and later, outright deletion of his entire record had emerged as early as 2177. It appears that for some reason, military and political officials at the highest level conspired to sabotage that any analysis of Ryan's actions except for the story put out by the Alliance government. Why they would do this, it is likely we shall never know.

What we do know about Ryan is that he was born in Florida in 2109, that he served with the US Marine Corps throughout the Cold War on the Central American and Columbian Fronts, and he was placed in command of the CMEF, which suggests he was held in high regard. The force was designed for rapid response to the threat of alien invasion, and was deployed as such to Shanxi within three days of the Battle of Relay 314. This was followed by nearly a month of digging in and waiting, as the turians searched nearby clusters.

Williams' instructions for Ryan were very simple: Take up residence in the Xi'an Valley, prepare it as a redoubt for refugees and retreating forces, and hold out at all costs.

The valley itself was naturally defensible, ringed with sheer mountain faces and densely forested. In addition to this, the EU had planned its use for this very purpose in the event of a general revolt and had built a huge bunker complex, cleverly disguised as natural formations to ground-penetrating radars. The majority of colonists on Shanxi were from the conquered provinces of Asia, and Xi'an was planned to be the home of Polish settlers, whom could be counted on to be loyal.

Ryan would do as he was ordered, ignoring later orders to lay down his arms. Why he did so remains as mysterious as his records, but is widely agreed to be in keeping with the man's personality.


	50. FIRST CONTACT: The Opposing Forces

_ALERT: Minor spoilers for the main series in this chapter. Nothing earth-shattering, but I felt it polite to mention it._

* * *

THE OPPOSING FORCES

**_The Turian Hierarchy_**

_The New Territories_

The military forces available to the Hierarchy greatly outmatched the entirety of the human arsenal, at least on paper. The New Territories Military Region was responsible for the defence of four garden worlds and as many as forty relay clusters, the requirements according to turian military doctrine were extensive. No less than nine fleets were stationed in the zone, of which five were directly or indirectly in Arterius' control. Turian fleets were and are smaller than human ones, built around a single dreadnought (and a single fleet carrier in the post-Contact era).

The turians could bring five dreadnoughts (two Palaven-class and three Menae-class ships), one thousand five hundred cruisers and a similar number of frigates, as well as thousands of supply and logistics vessels. Although the number of soldiers available was in the hundreds of millions, as every turian adult between sixteen and thirty-five is a soldier and everyone else is a reservist, Arterius could only call on a tiny fraction of these ships and troops without higher political authorisation. This was a significant disadvantage to any notions of simply overwhelming humanity with sheer numbers.

Two obstacles to obtaining political authorisation existed. The first was that Arterius and those generals loyal to him in his zone of responsibility had other duties to attend to. Neglecting the defence of the new garden worlds, the patrols in their clusters or the defence of the unopened relays would have seen him removed from command, aliens or no aliens. This was the reason for the dispersed efforts of the turians in the early days of the war. Instead of handling the matter personally, he told each of his direct subordinates to split off whatever forces they could and deploy them to search for the enemy. Likewise, he called in markers on Palaven, and more smaller units from a great variety of sources moved in to help.

In the end, turians from all over the Hierarchy would end up serving, on Shanxi, in space and on the many minor skirmishes on various worlds in the northwest of what is now the territory of the Systems Alliance.

The quality of these forces, despite their diverse origins, was high and almost uniform. Particularly in the planetside forces. Turian training, tactics, equipment and order of battle was standardised throughout the Hierarchy. The differences between the units that did exist were based on the personality of the commanders down through to the NCOs, and the weapons bought by the soldiers themselves. Some, like General Orinia's 43rd Marine Division, were given specialist equipment to carry out their reconnaissance and probing roles.

This had its highs and lows for the war from the turian perspective. The turians trained to fight a large scale conventional war, with more or less neat lines and a definite front to attack or defend. Theorists on Palaven had long reckoned that such a state of war could be forced on any opponent, even the asari or salarians, through use of naked military firepower. Indeed, in open ground engagements not of its choosing, humanity would find itself on the back foot.

The second reason for the lack of authorisation to simply overwhelm the Alliance defences was that any move to use more forces than those that would see action on Shanxi would draw the attention of the asari and salarians. The former in particular are now known to have very negative opinions of turian dreams of conquest, and the asari themselves ostracised figures like General Aethyta T'saza for advocating a more militaristic approach to problems like the Terminus or first contact scenarios.

Morale among the turian forces was generally low prior to the war. The turian separatist movement and the lack of action on the part of the Hierarchy to crush it had much of the younger turian population wondering what the future of their species might look like. However, once they were told they would be fighting for glory against a newly discovered species, the sense of history and duty kicked in. Most felt that they had inadequate resources for the job they were to do, which would have huge political ramifications after the war. Despite this, turians would not dishonour themselves with cowardice in combat throughout the war, and human forces often had to apply brutal means to assure victory. It was a lesson neither side would forget.

* * *

**_The Systems Alliance_**

The military forces available to humanity have been consistently underestimated in popular understandings of the war, largely because the turians possessed overwhelming superiority in numbers more broadly. However, it is false to suggest that humanity triumphed over superior numbers during the course of the conflict. Although it would have faced such numbers eventually had the asari and salarians not stepped in, the number of ships and troops that engaged were more or less even, and more crucially, humanity practised a strategy of obtaining local superiority of numbers whenever possible.

Between 2145 and 2157, human governments and then the Alliance operated under the assumption that they were very quickly going to encounter a hostile alien threat. The European Union's creation of Space Command Terra and the foundation of the Systems Alliance itself were both only possible politically and economically because of this threat. Human history is filled with instances of a technologically superior enemy invading and conquering technologically inferior cultures, starting the Neanderthals and ending with the colonialism of the 18th and 19th centuries. There was an assumption made by almost all political factions in all the major powers of Earth: any species that could reach space and use the mass effect to travel in it must be as aggressive or more so than humanity, as any species lacking this trait would have died off against competitors in its prehistory. With the singular exception of the asari, this assumption was entirely correct.

As such, Earth's nations maintained the militarism that they had found during the Cold War. Billions of humans remained under arms. Aside from colonial ventures, the entire economy of Earth was kept in preparation for total war to the largest sustainable extent. Research and development of technology with potential military applications employed five of every six scientists or high technologists between 2150 and 2157. This unprecedented phenomenon was not popular, but it was tolerated as long as it was deemed necessary. After the war, the necessity would disappear, creating discontent. It is the largest factor in why the Conservative Party of Anka Gasperi would sweep the first Alliance-wide elections in 2162.

Regardless, humanity's forces on paper exceeded those actually available to Arterius personally.

In naval strength, the Alliance outstripped the Hierarchy in the theatre of battle. The Alliance could call on six dreadnoughts of the Perseus-class and was not constrained by the need to hide their activities. Two thousand cruisers and two thousand frigates made up the backbone of the fleets, although it is important to note that Alliance cruisers were of an inferior design to their turian counterparts and the opposite was the case with frigates. These were divided into three fleets.

The First Fleet under Jon Grissom was designated for the defence of the Sol Cluster, Arcturus and other clusters with large amounts of necessary resources like eezo. The Second Fleet under Kastanie Drescher was the expeditionary force, designed to contain and retaliate against the expected alien threat. Both fleets had eight hundred cruisers. In the First Fleet, gun cruisers and carrier cruisers were equal in number. In the Second Fleet, they were weighted in a ratio of 4:3:1 for carriers, gun cruisers and planetary assault cruisers. Both fleets had three dreadnoughts each.

The Third Fleet did not have a commanding admiral, and was broken up into a hundred small exploration flotillas consisting of a pair of cruisers, a wolfpack of frigates and a number of civilian survey vessels. These were sent through relays and into the depths of each cluster in search of eezo, easily obtainable heavy metals and garden worlds. In this task, they were highly successful, leading to the second wave of human colonisation, most fatefully in the Skyllian Verge. It is one such flotilla, the 63rd Explorator, that would be present in orbit around Relay 314 when a turian patrol happened upon them.

The Alliance had one general advantage over the turians, even including the forces that Arterius was not able to bring to bear; logistics. Its supply lines were much shorter and were not crowded with the huge excess of civilian traffic seen in Citadel space. To make matters even more strange, humanity had developed better supply and troop transportation capabilities in the form of the Kodiak shuttle series and the Kowloon cargo ship series, both sporting innovations and efficiencies that made moving men and materiel from Sol to the front far more easy.

Morale in Alliance in 2157 was high, although it would suffer a great blow with the surrender of Shanxi. Only the events on that world after Williams gave the order to lay down arms would restore the fighting spirit of the species, fear being replaced by anger. The feeling that the war had finally come was almost a relief when it did, and regardless of civilian opinion, the feeling of military personnel was that this was what they had been preparing ten years for. Military psychologists have called the effect of this 'existential satisfaction' in attempting to explain the supposedly suicidal acts of defiance in the face of what appeared to be a superior enemy.

It is perhaps important to remember that neither side knew of the other's capabilities, and the war would always take a chaotic path as a result. None could predict exactly what would happen, and this coloured the political debates of both the Citadel species and of humanity. At first, Alliance forces were under-committed to the outer colonies. This was done out of a need to get a handle on the alien threat and its exact extent, a job for which committing the majority of naval and army assets was not required or desired. General Williams not possessing enough troops and ships to defend Shanxi from a relatively small turian force is one result, and it was a lesson not learned by the Alliance as late as 2170.


End file.
